HSK 3 · Time

终于 zhōngyú “at last” in Chinese

Traditional 終於

What 终于 means

  1. at last
  2. in end
  3. finally
  4. in the end
  5. eventually

How to say 终于

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale终zhōng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale于yú2nd tone, rising

终于 in a sentence

  1. 终于开始下雨了。

    Zhōngyú kāishǐ xiàyǔ le.

    At last, it began to rain.

    Sentence #431501 from Tatoeba

  2. 她终于睡着了。

    Tā zhōngyú shuìzháo le.

    She finally fell asleep.

    Sentence #383288 from Tatoeba

  3. 婴儿终于不哭了。

    Yīng'ér zhōngyú bù kū le.

    The baby has finally stopped crying.

    Sentence #8589148 from Tatoeba

How 终于 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 终 (zhōng) with each of its parts in a different colour
终zhōngend
  • 纟silk form of 糸 · mìMeaning part
  • 冬part of the characterSound part
The character 于 (yú) with each of its parts in a different colour
于yúto go
  • 二two · èr
  • 亅hook · jué

How to write 终于

终 8 strokes · 于 3 strokes

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

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

Words related to 终于

Words with 终

最终zuìzhōng · final始终shǐzhōng · from beginning to end终身zhōngshēn · lifelong终止zhōngzhǐ · to terminate终点zhōngdiǎn · finish line终究zhōngjiū · after all

Words with 于

关于guānyú · about对于duìyú · regarding由于yóuyú · due to于是yúshì · thereupon位于wèiyú · to be located at善于shànyú · to be good at等于děngyú · to equal属于shǔyú · to be classified as在于zàiyú · to lie in至于zhìyú · as for

More words: Time

一会儿yíhuìr · a while一样yíyàng · the same一直yìzhí · always以前yǐqián · before周末zhōumò · weekend总是zǒngshì · always最后zuìhòu · last最近zuìjìn · recently

FAQs

终于 (zhōngyú) means “at last” or “in end”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it zhōngyú: zhōng with a 1st tone, then yú with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 终于 is written 終於. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhongyu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 终于 from the suggestions. Typing zhongyu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
终于 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.