Meaning of 中学生
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- middle-school student
- high school student
How to use 中学生
In mainland China, 中学 covers both junior and senior secondary school, so 中学生 can mean anyone roughly 12 to 18 years old. If you need to be precise, people say 初中生 (chūzhōngshēng, junior high student) or 高中生 (gāozhōngshēng, senior high student). Example: 我弟弟是中学生。(Wǒ dìdi shì zhōngxuéshēng.) My younger brother is a middle school student.
Break it into 中学 (zhōngxué, middle school) plus 生 (shēng, student, as in 学生). A 中学生 is literally a "middle school student," someone in the middle stage between primary school and university.
Common mistake: Learners often translate 中学 as "middle school" only and miss that it also includes high school, so they wrongly call a 17-year-old something other than 中学生. Also keep 生 in the first tone (shēng) here, not the neutral tone it takes in 先生 (xiānsheng).
中学生 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
中 zhōng · within · 4 strokes
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学 xué · to learn · 8 strokes
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生 shēng · to grow · 5 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 中学生.
| 先生 | xiānsheng | teacher; gentleman; sir; mister (Mr.) |
| 医生 | yīshēng | doctor; medical practitioner |
| 学校 | xuéxiào | school |
| 生气 | shēngqì | to get angry; to be furious; vitality; liveliness |
| 中国 | Zhōngguó | China |
| 学生 | xuéshēng | student; schoolchild |
| 大学 | dàxué | university; college |
| 学习 | xuéxí | to learn; to study |
| 生日 | shēngrì | birthday |
| 同学 | tóngxué | to study at the same school; fellow student |
| 中间 | zhōngjiān | the middle; the inside; in the middle; within; between; among |
| 生病 | shēngbìng | to fall ill |
Questions about 中学生
What does 中学生 mean?
中学生 (zhōngxuéshēng) means "middle-school student; high school student" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 中学生?
中学生 is made of 3 characters: 中 (4 strokes), 学 (8 strokes), 生 (5 strokes). That is 17 strokes in total.
Is 中学生 an HSK word?
Yes. 中学生 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 中学生 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 中学生 is written 中學生.
What do you call a primary school or university student in Chinese?
A primary school student is 小学生 (xiǎoxuéshēng), and a university student is 大学生 (dàxuéshēng). The pattern is the same: school level plus 生.
Does 中 in 中学生 mean China, like in 中国?
No. Here 中 (zhōng) means "middle," referring to the middle level of schooling. In 中国 (Zhōngguó) it is the same character, but there it is part of the country's name, "Middle Kingdom."