What 义务 means
- Volunteer (duty - obligation - compulsory)
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 义务 will read it the same way this page does.
Character by character
How to write 义务
Stroke order is not decoration — it is what makes handwriting legible and what dictionary lookup by stroke count depends on.
Practise 义务 on printable 田字格 sheets, trace it in the writing practice tool, or watch any other character in the Stroke Order Animator.
Questions about 义务
What does 义务 mean in English?
义务 is pronounced yìwù and means Volunteer (duty - obligation - compulsory).
How do you pronounce 义务?
义务 is yìwù in pinyin — written yiwu without tone marks. Press the audio button on this page to hear it spoken by a native voice.
What are the characters in 义务?
义务 is written with 2 characters: 义 (yì) Righteousness (justice - meaning), 务 (wù) Business (affair - matter). Knowing the parts is usually how the whole word becomes memorable.
How is 义务 written in traditional Chinese?
義務. The simplified form 义务 is used in mainland China and Singapore; 義務 is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Both are pronounced yìwù.
Is 义务 an HSK word?
Yes — 义务 is on the official HSK 5 vocabulary list. You can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 5 page.
Studied around the same time
Keep going
Translate a whole sentence containing 义务 with the Chinese to Pinyin translator, study it alongside the rest of HSK 5, 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