东西

东西 dōngxī

Thing

HSK 1 繁體 東西 dongxi

What 东西 means

  1. Thing

These meanings come from the same dictionary that powers the Chinese to Pinyin translator and the Chinese to English translator, so a whole sentence containing 东西 will read it the same way this page does.

Character by character

东西 is written with 2 characters. Chinese words are usually easier to remember once you can see what each part contributes.

dōng
East (owner - host)
西
West (the West)

How to write 东西

Stroke order is not decoration — it is what makes handwriting legible and what dictionary lookup by stroke count depends on.

Practise 东西 on printable 田字格 sheets, trace it in the writing practice tool, or watch any other character in the Stroke Order Animator.

东西 in a sentence

你想买什么东西?
Nǐ xiǎng mǎi shénme dōngxi?
What things do you want to buy?

Want pinyin above a sentence of your own? Paste it into the Pinyin Annotator.

Questions about 东西

What does 东西 mean in English?

东西 is pronounced dōngxī and means Thing.

How do you pronounce 东西?

东西 is dōngxī in pinyin — written dongxi without tone marks. Press the audio button on this page to hear it spoken by a native voice.

What are the characters in 东西?

东西 is written with 2 characters: 东 (dōng) East (owner - host), 西 (xī) West (the West). Knowing the parts is usually how the whole word becomes memorable.

How is 东西 written in traditional Chinese?

東西. The simplified form 东西 is used in mainland China and Singapore; 東西 is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Both are pronounced dōngxī.

Is 东西 an HSK word?

Yes — 东西 is on the official HSK 1 vocabulary list. You can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 1 page.

Studied around the same time

Keep going

Translate a whole sentence containing 东西 with the Chinese to Pinyin translator, study it alongside the rest of HSK 1, drill it with HSK flashcards, or save it above and review it on your review deck.

Browse the dictionary

Every word on this site links to its entry — tap any word in a graded reader, a translation result or an HSK list to land on a page like this one.

Dictionary index