Tāngmǔ bāng Mǎlì de máng, bú shì chūyú zérèn, ér shì chūyú zìyuàn.
Tom helps Mary not out of duty, but of his own free will.
Sentence #1398667 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted
How 自愿 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.
自zìself; oneself
自 is a single shape of 6 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.
Memory aidDrawn from a nose. The usual explanation is that people point to their nose to mean “me”, so it came to mean “self”.
愿yuànhonest and prudent
原source · yuánSound part
心heart · xīnMeaning part
心 hints at the meaning (heart); 原 (yuán) hints at the sound. Compare it with yuàn.
How to write 自愿
自 6 strokes · 愿 14 strokes
Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.
Stroke order chart for 自愿 (zìyuàn). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.
自愿 (zìyuàn) means “voluntary”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it zìyuàn: zì with a 4th tone, then yuàn with a 4th 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, 自愿 is written 自願. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type ziyuan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 自愿 from the suggestions. Typing ziyuan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
自愿 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.
Turn words into conversations
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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.
自zì4th tone, falling
