Meaning of 孩子
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- child
How to use 孩子
孩子 means child in general and is also how parents refer to their own kids, whether sons or daughters. It is often counted with 个 (gè). Example: 他们有两个孩子。 (Tāmen yǒu liǎng gè háizi.) They have two children.
孩子 is built from two characters that both contain 子 (zǐ), a picture of a small child. Think of 孩 (hái) as 子 with extra strokes beside it, and 子 again at the end, so the word is doubly about a little one.
Common mistake: Learners often say the second syllable with a full third tone, zǐ, but in 孩子 it is a light neutral tone: háizi. The same neutral 子 appears in 桌子 (zhuōzi) and 杯子 (bēizi).
孩子 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.
孩 hái · baby · 9 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
子 zi · noun suffix · 3 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
Related words
Words that share a character with 孩子.
| 儿子 | érzi | son |
| 房子 | fángzi | house; building (single- or two-story) |
| 桌子 | zhuōzi | table; desk |
| 杯子 | bēizi | cup; glass |
| 女孩儿 | nǚháir | erhua form of 女孩[nu : 3 hai2] |
| 包子 | bāozi | baozi; bao (steamed stuffed bun) |
| 本子 | běnzi | book; notebook |
| 小孩儿 | xiǎoháir | erhua variant of 小孩[xiao3 hai2] |
| 男孩儿 | nánháir | erhua form of 男孩[nan2 hai2] |
| 样子 | yàngzi | appearance; manner |
| 日子 | rìzi | day; a (calendar) date |
| 椅子 | yǐzi | chair |
Questions about 孩子
What does 孩子 mean?
孩子 (háizi) means "child" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 孩子?
孩子 is made of 2 characters: 孩 (9 strokes), 子 (3 strokes). That is 12 strokes in total.
Is 孩子 an HSK word?
Yes. 孩子 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 孩子 and 儿子?
孩子 (háizi) means child of either sex. 儿子 (érzi) specifically means son. For a daughter you say 女儿 (nǚ'ér).
How do you say boy and girl using 孩?
Add 男 (nán) or 女 (nǚ) in front: 男孩子 (nán háizi) for boy and 女孩子 (nǚ háizi) for girl. In northern speech you also hear 女孩儿 (nǚháir) and 男孩儿 (nánháir).