Meaning of 之内
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- inside; within
How to use 之内
之内 comes after a noun, a time span, or a range to mean "within" that limit. It sounds a bit more formal than 里 (lǐ) and is common with time and numbers. Example: 三天之内给我答复。(Sān tiān zhīnèi gěi wǒ dáfù.) Give me an answer within three days.
之 (zhī) is a linking word like "of", and 内 (nèi) means inside. Put them together and you get "the inside of" something, so X之内 means "within X".
Common mistake: Learners sometimes put 之内 before the noun, as in 之内三天. It always follows what it limits: 三天之内. Also, 内 is fourth tone (nèi), so do not say it like 那 (nà) or with a flat tone.
之内 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.
之 zhī · possessive particle · 3 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
内 nèi · inside · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 之内.
| 内心 | nèixīn | heart; innermost being; (math.) incenter |
| 内容 | nèiróng | content; substance; details |
| 国内 | guó nèi | domestic; internal (to a country) |
| 之前 | zhīqián | before; prior to |
| 之后 | zhīhòu | after; behind; (at the beginning of a sentence) afterwards; since then |
| 之间 | zhījiān | (after a noun) between; among; amid; (used after certain bisyllabic words to form expressi |
| 之一 | zhīyī | one of (sth); one out of a multitude |
| 总之 | zǒngzhī | in a word; in short |
| 内部 | nèibù | interior; inside (part, section) |
| 以内 | yǐnèi | within; less than |
| 分之 | fēn zhī | (indicating a fraction) |
| 内科 | nèikē | internal medicine; general medicine |
Questions about 之内
What does 之内 mean?
之内 (zhīnèi) means "inside; within" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 之内?
之内 is made of 2 characters: 之 (3 strokes), 内 (4 strokes). That is 7 strokes in total.
Is 之内 an HSK word?
Yes. 之内 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 之内 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 之内 is written 之內.
What is the difference between 之内 and 以内?
They overlap a lot, and both can follow numbers or time spans, as in 一个月以内 or 一个月之内. 以内 is used most often with quantities and limits. 之内 also works naturally with places and groups, as in 公司之内 (inside the company).
Can 之内 be used for physical places?
Yes. You can say 校园之内 (xiàoyuán zhīnèi), within the campus, or 国境之内, within the national borders. For everyday rooms or boxes, people usually just say 里 or 里面, such as 房间里.