Meaning of 冬天
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- winter
How to use 冬天
冬天 works like a time word and usually comes before the verb or at the start of a sentence. The other seasons follow the same pattern: 春天 (chūntiān) spring, 夏天 (xiàtiān) summer, 秋天 (qiūtiān) autumn. Example: 冬天很冷。(Dōngtiān hěn lěng.) Winter is very cold.
冬 (dōng) means winter and 天 (tiān) means day or sky, so 冬天 is the season of winter days. Picture the two dots at the bottom of 冬 as falling snowflakes on a cold day.
Common mistake: Learners often put 冬天 at the end of the sentence like English "I ski in winter." In Chinese say 我冬天滑雪 (wǒ dōngtiān huáxuě), with the time word before the verb. Also do not confuse 冬 (dōng, winter) with 东 (dōng, east), which sound the same.
冬天 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.
冬 dōng · winter · 5 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
天 tiān · day · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 冬天.
| 今天 | jīntiān | today; the present time; now |
| 明天 | míngtiān | tomorrow |
| 昨天 | zuótiān | yesterday |
| 天气 | tiānqì | weather |
| 白天 | báitiān | daytime; during the day |
| 星期天 | xīngqītiān | Sunday |
| 后天 | hòutiān | the day after tomorrow; life after birth (the period in which one develops through experie |
| 半天 | bàntiān | half of the day; a long time |
| 前天 | qiántiān | the day before yesterday |
| 夏天 | xiàtiān | summer |
| 春天 | chūntiān | spring (season) |
| 天上 | tiānshàng | the sky; the heavens |
Questions about 冬天
What does 冬天 mean?
冬天 (dōngtiān) means "winter" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 冬天?
冬天 is made of 2 characters: 冬 (5 strokes), 天 (4 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 冬天 an HSK word?
Yes. 冬天 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you say "this winter" or "last winter" in Chinese?
Use 今年冬天 (jīnnián dōngtiān) for this winter and 去年冬天 (qùnián dōngtiān) for last winter. Next winter is 明年冬天 (míngnián dōngtiān).
Is there a shorter word for winter than 冬天?
In everyday speech 冬天 is the normal word. The single character 冬 appears in set words like 冬季 (dōngjì), a more formal word for winter, and 过冬 (guòdōng), to spend the winter.