HSK 3 · Places

中文 Zhōngwén “Chinese language” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 中文 means

  1. Chinese language

How to say 中文

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale中Zhōng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale文wén2nd tone, rising

中文 in a sentence

  1. 你会说中文吗？

    Nǐ huì shuō Zhōngwén ma?

    Do you speak Chinese?

    Sentence #2027964 from Tatoeba

  2. 他说中文。

    Tā shuō Zhōngwén.

    He speaks Chinese.

    Sentence #2223019 from Tatoeba

  3. 你的中文老师是谁？

    Nǐ de Zhōngwén lǎoshī shì shéi?

    Who is your Chinese teacher?

    Sentence #335142 from Tatoeba

How 中文 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 中 (zhōng) with each of its parts in a different colour
中zhōngwithin; among; inZhōng in 中文
  • 口mouth · kǒu
  • 丨line · gǔn

Memory aidA line 丨 through the centre of a box 口: the middle.

The character 文 (wén) with each of its parts in a different colour
文wénlanguage
  • 亠lid · tóu
  • 乂to govern · yì

Memory aidDrawn from a person with a pattern on the chest. It came to mean writing and culture.

How to write 中文

中 4 strokes · 文 4 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

中文 (Zhōngwén) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 中文 (Zhōngwén). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 中文

Words with 中

中午zhōngwǔ · noon中国Zhōngguó · China中学zhōngxué · middle school中学生zhōngxuéshēng · middle-school student高中gāozhōng · senior high school中zhōng · middle中间zhōngjiān · middle初中chūzhōng · junior high school其中qízhōng · among中旬zhōngxún · middle third of a month

Words with 文

文化wénhuà · culture课文kèwén · text (of a lesson)文章wénzhāng · article文明wénmíng · civilised论文lùnwén · paper文字wénzì · writing作文zuòwén · to write an essay文件wénjiàn · document文学wénxué · literature文具wénjù · stationery (pens

More words: Places & Directions

西xī · West洗手间xǐshǒujiān · toilet银行yínháng · bank中间zhōngjiān · middle餐厅cāntīng · dining hall厕所cèsuǒ · toilet厨房chúfáng · kitchen大使馆dàshǐguǎn · embassy

FAQs

中文 (Zhōngwén) means “Chinese language”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it Zhōngwén: Zhōng with a 1st tone, then wén with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 中文 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhongwen with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 中文 from the suggestions. Typing zhongwen into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
中文 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.