以为

以为 yǐwéi

Thought (to believe - consider erroneously)

以为 in a sentence HSK 4 繁體 以為 yiwei

What 以为 means

  1. Thought (to believe - consider erroneously)

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 以为 will read it the same way this page does.

Recognise a piece of 以为 but not the character it belongs to? Pick the parts in the component character finder and it will name the character for you — free for every character, with nothing to sign in to.

Character by character

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

以
yǐ
Use (by - for - within - because - in order to)
为
wèi / wéi
For (in order to - because of); Act as (to be)

How to write 以为

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

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

以为 in a sentence

我以为你今天不来了。
Wǒ yǐwéi nǐ jīntiān bù lái le.
I thought you were not coming today.
他以为这道题很简单。
Tā yǐwéi zhè dào tí hěn jiǎndān.
He assumed this question was easy.

Every sentence on this site that uses 以为 is collected on the 以为 sentence page. Want pinyin above a sentence of your own? Paste it into the Pinyin Annotator.

Questions about 以为

What does 以为 mean in English?

以为 is pronounced yǐwéi and means Thought (to believe - consider erroneously).

How do you pronounce 以为?

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

What are the characters in 以为?

以为 is written with 2 characters: 以 (yǐ) Use (by - for - within - because - in order to), 为 (wèi / wéi) For (in order to - because of); Act as (to be). Knowing the parts is usually how the whole word becomes memorable.

How is 以为 written in traditional Chinese?

以為. The simplified form 以为 is used in mainland China and Singapore; 以為 is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Both are pronounced yǐwéi.

Is 以为 an HSK word?

Yes — 以为 is on the official HSK 4 vocabulary list. You can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 4 page.

Studied around the same time

Keep going

Translate a whole sentence containing 以为 with the Chinese to Pinyin translator, study it alongside the rest of HSK 4, 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