Meaning of 电
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- lightning
- electricity
- electric (bound form)
- to get (or give) an electric shock
- phone call or telegram etc
- to send via telephone or telegram etc
How to use 电
电 (diàn) rarely stands alone in daily speech. It mostly builds words for electric things like 电话 (diànhuà), 电视 (diànshì), 电脑 (diànnǎo) and 电影 (diànyǐng). Example: 我晚上给你打电话。(Wǒ wǎnshang gěi nǐ dǎ diànhuà.) I will call you tonight.
Picture 电 (diàn) as a storm cloud box 日 with a bolt of lightning shooting down through it and curling off at the bottom. That zap of lightning is where the meanings electricity and electric come from.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 电 (diàn) with 由 (yóu) or 甲 (jiǎ). Only 电 has the last stroke that bends right and hooks up, so make sure the vertical line goes through the box and curves at the bottom.
电 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.
电 diàn · lightning · 5 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
Related words
Words that share a character with 电.
| 电话 | diànhuà | telephone; phone call |
| 打电话 | dǎ diànhuà | to make a telephone call |
| 电影 | diànyǐng | movie; film |
| 电视 | diànshì | television; TV |
| 电脑 | diànnǎo | computer |
| 电影院 | diànyǐngyuàn | cinema; movie theater |
| 电视机 | diànshìjī | television set |
| 电台 | diàntái | transmitter-receiver; broadcasting station |
| 电视台 | diànshìtái | television station |
| 电子邮件 | diànzǐ yóujiàn | |
| 电视剧 | diànshìjù | TV series; TV drama |
| 电梯 | diàntī | elevator; escalator |
Questions about 电
What does 电 mean?
电 (diàn) means "lightning; electricity" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 电?
电 is made of 1 character: 电 (5 strokes). That is 5 strokes in total.
Is 电 an HSK word?
Yes. 电 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 电 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 电 is written 電.
How do I say there is no power or the battery is dead?
Say 没电了 (méi diàn le), which works for both a power outage and a dead phone battery. 停电了 (tíng diàn le) specifically means the power has been cut off.
Can 电 mean getting an electric shock?
Yes. As a verb, 电 means to shock, as in 我被电了一下 (wǒ bèi diàn le yí xià), I got a little shock. People also use 触电 (chù diàn) for getting electrocuted.