HSK 6 · Ideas

座右铭 zuòyòumíng “motto” in Chinese

Traditional 座右銘

What 座右铭 means

  1. motto
  2. maxim

How to say 座右铭

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale座zuò4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale右yòu4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale铭míng2nd tone, rising

座右铭 in a sentence

  1. 我的座右铭是“活到老，学到老”。

    Wǒ de zuòyòumíng shì “huó dào lǎo, xué dào lǎo”.

    My motto is “You’re never too old to learn”.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 他把座右铭写在书桌上。

    Tā bǎ zuòyòumíng xiě zài shūzhuō shàng.

    He wrote his motto on his desk.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 座右铭 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 座 (zuò) with each of its parts in a different colour
座zuòseat
  • 广shelter · guǎng
  • 坐seat · zuò
The character 右 (yòu) drawn as one shape
右yòuright; right-hand side

右 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 铭 (míng) with each of its parts in a different colour
铭míngto engrave
  • 钅gold form of 金 · jīn
  • 名name · míng

How to write 座右铭

座 10 strokes · 右 5 strokes · 铭 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 座右铭

Words with 座

座zuò · measure word for buildings座位zuòwèi · seat讲座jiǎngzuò · lecture插座chāzuò · power point

Words with 右

右yòu · right右边yòubian · right side左右zuǒyòu · about

More words: Ideas & Concepts

背景bèijǐng · background本领běnlǐng · skill本质běnzhì · essence比例bǐlì · proportion姿态zītài · posture踪迹zōngjì · trace宗旨zōngzhǐ · aim尊严zūnyán · dignity

FAQs

座右铭 (zuòyòumíng) means “motto” or “maxim”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it zuòyòumíng: zuò with a 4th tone, then yòu with a 4th tone, then míng 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, 座右铭 is written 座右銘. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zuoyouming with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 座右铭 from the suggestions. Typing zuoyouming into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
座右铭 is an HSK 6 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.