下降 meaning in English

xiàjiàng

to decline; to drop

HSK 4verb11 strokes

Meaning of 下降

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

xiàjiàng

to decline
to drop
to fall
to go down
to decrease

How to use 下降

下降 is common in news, reports and formal speech for numbers, levels or objects going down, such as temperature, prices, sales or an airplane. 气温下降了五度。(Qìwēn xiàjiàng le wǔ dù.) The temperature dropped five degrees.

Both characters point down. 下 (xià) means below or down, and 降 (jiàng) means to descend, so 下降 (xiàjiàng) is a doubled way of saying "go down."

Common mistake: Learners often use 下降 for people physically going down, like stairs. In that case say 下楼 (xià lóu) or 下去 (xiàqu), and keep 下降 for levels, amounts and things like planes. Also note 降 is read jiàng here, not xiáng, which is its reading in 投降 (tóuxiáng, to surrender).

下降 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

加jiā拿ná大dà的de犯fàn罪zuì率lǜ下xià降jiàng了le。

Canada's crime rate is decreasing.

雨yǔ后hòu气qì温wēn下xià降jiàng了le。

There was a drop in temperature after the rain.

要yào是shì你nǐ老lǎo打dǎ游yóu戏xì的de话huà，你nǐ的de视shì力lì会huì下xià降jiàng的de。

You're going to wreck your eyesight if you play games all the time.

气qì温wēn下xià降jiàng了le。

The temperature has dropped.

由yóu于yú产chǎn量liàng过guò剩shèng，卷juǎn心xīn菜cài的de价jià格gé下xià降jiàng了le。

The price of cabbage fell because of overproduction.

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

下 xià · down · 3 strokes

降 jiàng · to drop · 8 strokes

Related words

Words that share a character with 下降.

坐下	zuò xia	to sit down
下次	xià cì	next time
下午	xiàwǔ	afternoon; p.m.
下车	xià chē	to get off or out of (a bus, train, car etc)
楼下	lóu xià	downstairs
下班	xiàbān	to finish work; to get off work; next service (train, bus etc)
下雨	xià yǔ	to rain
下课	xiàkè	to finish class; to get out of class
下边	xiàbian	under; the underside
一下儿	yīxiàr	erhua form of 一下[yi1 xia4]
留下	liúxia	to leave behind; to stay behind
放下	fàngxia	to lay down; to put down; to let go of; to relinquish; to set aside

Questions about 下降

What does 下降 mean?

下降 (xiàjiàng) means "to decline; to drop" and is used as a verb.

How do you write 下降?

下降 is made of 2 characters: 下 (3 strokes), 降 (8 strokes). That is 11 strokes in total.

Is 下降 an HSK word?

Yes. 下降 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

What is the opposite of 下降?

The usual opposite is 上升 (shàngshēng), to rise. For prices and numbers you will also see 增加 (zēngjiā, to increase) and 提高 (tígāo, to raise).

What is the difference between 下降 and 减少?

减少 (jiǎnshǎo) means to reduce in number or quantity, like fewer people or less money. 下降 focuses on a level dropping, like temperature, quality or a rate, though both can describe falling figures.