Meaning of 电动
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- electric-powered
- (Tw) video game
How to use 电动
电动 usually goes before a noun to describe a machine that runs on electric power, like 电动车 (diàndòngchē, electric bike or scooter) or 电动牙刷 (diàndòng yáshuā, electric toothbrush). Example: 我每天骑电动车上班。(Wǒ měitiān qí diàndòngchē shàngbān.) I ride an electric scooter to work every day.
电 (diàn) means electricity and 动 (dòng) means to move, so 电动 is something that moves by electricity. Picture a toy car that only starts moving when you add batteries.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes use 电 alone as an adjective and say 电车 when they mean an electric scooter, but 电车 (diànchē) usually means a tram or trolleybus, so say 电动车 instead. Also keep both syllables in the fourth tone: diàndòng, not diàndóng.
电动 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
动 dòng · to move · 6 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
Related words
Words that share a character with 电动.
| 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 |
| 动作 | dòngzuò | movement; motion; action; to act; to move |
| 电影院 | diànyǐngyuàn | cinema; movie theater |
| 电视机 | diànshìjī | television set |
| 行动 | xíngdòng | operation; action |
| 动物 | dòngwù | animal |
| 活动 | huódòng | to exercise; to move about; to work out; shaky; unsteady; loose (tooth etc) |
| 运动 | yùndòng | to move; to exercise |
Questions about 电动
What does 电动 mean?
电动 (diàndòng) means "electric-powered; (Tw) video game" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 电动?
电动 is made of 2 characters: 电 (5 strokes), 动 (6 strokes). That is 11 strokes in total.
Is 电动 an HSK word?
Yes. 电动 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 电动 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 电动 is written 電動.
Why do people in Taiwan use 电动 to mean video games?
In Taiwan, 打电动 (dǎ diàndòng) is a common way to say "play video games." In mainland China people more often say 打游戏 (dǎ yóuxì) or 玩游戏 (wán yóuxì).
What is the difference between 电动 and 自动?
电动 tells you the power source is electricity. 自动 (zìdòng) means automatic, working by itself without a person operating it. An electric door is 电动门, and an automatic door is 自动门, though many doors are both.