School Words in Chinese

Posted on by tiffany

Chinese Vocabulary · 中文词汇

School Words in Chinese

学校词汇 xuéxiào cíhuì

Before we get into the vocab, here’s a question: do you know how many 汉字 (hànzì, “Chinese characters”) exist? The answer is more than 80,000. Sounds like a lot, but there’s no need to panic — even native speakers don’t recognize anywhere close to that many. Students who finish high school in China typically know around 4,500 characters, and a well-educated adult knows somewhere around 8,000. If you just want to read a menu or handle everyday life, 800 characters will get you there. To follow along with TV, radio, or newspapers, around 3,500 characters covers about 92% of what you’ll encounter.

In the classroom

Part 1 School Words in Chinese

ChinesePinyinEnglishKoreanJapanese
语法yǔfǎGrammar문법文法
書法shūfǎCalligraphy서도書道
班bānClass반班
课kèLesson수업授業
高中gāozhōngHigh school고등학교高等学校
汉字hànzìChinese character한자漢字
练习liànxíPractice연습練習
解释jiěshìExplain해석解釈
成绩chéngjìGrade성적成績
报告bàogàoReport보고レポート
作业zuòyèHomework숙제宿題
作文zuòwénComposition작문作文

报告

This word works as both a noun and a verb — it can mean “a report” or “to report (something to someone).”

Putting it all together

Examples

不bú是shì每měi个gè中国Zhōngguó人rén都dōu能néng解释jiěshì汉语Hànyǔ语法yǔfǎ Not every Chinese person can explain Chinese grammar.

我wǒ这zhè周末zhōumò要yào去qù朋友péngyǒu家jiā讨论tǎolùn报告bàogào I’m going to a friend’s house this weekend to discuss the report.

这zhè件jiàn事shì你nǐ需要xūyào跟gēn老板lǎobǎn报告bàogào You need to report this to your boss.

Vacations and supplies

Part 2 School Words in Chinese

ChinesePinyinEnglishKoreanJapanese
暑假shǔjiàSummer vacation여름 방학夏休み
寒假hánjiàWinter vacation겨울 방학冬休み
假期jiàqīVacation방학休み
学期xuéqīSemester학기学期
学费xuéfèiTuition학비学費
尺chǐRuler자尺
铅笔qiānbǐPencil연필鉛筆
笔记bǐjìNote메모メモ
笔记本bǐjìběnNotebook공책ノート
字典zìdiǎnDictionary자전字典
书桌shūzhuōDesk책상机

Putting it all together

Examples

台湾Táiwān的de学校xuéxiào有yǒu两liǎng个gè学期xuéqī，上shàng学期xuéqī跟gēn下xià学期xuéqī Schools in Taiwan have two semesters, the first semester and the second semester.

如果rúguǒ你nǐ有yǒu不bú会huì的de字zì，可以kěyǐ去qù查chá字典zìdiǎn If there’s a word you don’t know, you can look it up in the dictionary.

Test yourself

Vocabulary Quiz

A2
Do you like it? 🙂