位于 meaning in English

wèiyú

to be located at; to be situated at

HSK 4verbTraditional 位於10 strokes

Meaning of 位于

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

wèiyú

to be located at
to be situated at
to lie

How to use 位于

位于 is a fairly formal verb used for places, buildings and geography. It is common in writing, news, guidebooks and introductions. Example: 北京位于中国北方。(Běijīng wèiyú Zhōngguó běifāng.) Beijing is located in northern China.

位 (wèi) means a position or place, as in 座位 (zuòwèi) seat, and 于 (yú) means "at" or "in". Put them together and 位于 literally says "positioned at", which is exactly what it means.

Common mistake: Learners often add 在 after it and say 位于在北京, but 于 already means "at", so just say 位于北京. Also do not use 位于 for people's everyday whereabouts. Say 我在家 (wǒ zài jiā), not 我位于家.

位于 in example sentences

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

这zhè座zuò城chéng市shì位wèi于yú美měi国guó。

This city is in the USA.

瑞ruì士shì位wèi于yú法fǎ国guó、意yì大dà利lì、奥ào地dì利lì和hé德dé国guó之zhī间jiān。

Switzerland is located between France, Italy, Austria and Germany.

教jiào堂táng位wèi于yú村cūn子zi的de中zhōng心xīn。

The church is in the middle of the village.

日rì本běn位wèi于yú北běi半bàn球qiú。

Japan is located in the Northern Hemisphere.

教jiào堂táng位wèi于yú山shān脚jiǎo。

The church is at the foot of a mountain.

Stroke order for each character

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

位 wèi · position · 7 strokes

于 yú · to go · 3 strokes

Related words

Words that share a character with 位于.

座位	zuòwèi	seat
单位	dānwèi	unit (of measure); unit (group of people as a whole)
等于	děngyú	to equal; to be tantamount to
各位	gèwèi	everybody; all (guests, colleagues etc)
终于	zhōngyú	at last; in the end
属于	shǔyú	to belong to; to fall under (a category)
由于	yóuyú	due to; as a result of
关于	guānyú	pertaining to; concerning
对于	duìyú	regarding; as far as (sth) is concerned; with regard to
位置	wèizhì	position; place
于是	yúshì	thereupon; as a result; consequently; thus; hence
处于	chǔyú	to be in (some state, position, or condition)

Questions about 位于

What does 位于 mean?

位于 (wèiyú) means "to be located at; to be situated at" and is used as a verb.

How do you write 位于?

位于 is made of 2 characters: 位 (7 strokes), 于 (3 strokes). That is 10 strokes in total.

Is 位于 an HSK word?

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

How is 位于 written in traditional Chinese?

In traditional characters, 位于 is written 位於.

What is the difference between 位于 and 在?

Both can mean "to be located at", but 在 (zài) is everyday and works for people and things. 位于 is more formal and is mostly used for fixed locations like cities, buildings and landmarks.

Can 位于 be followed by a direction word like 东边 or 南部?

Yes, it is very common. You can say 学校位于城市东部 (xuéxiào wèiyú chéngshì dōngbù), the school is located in the eastern part of the city. The place after 位于 is often a noun plus a direction word.