原来

原来 yuánlái

Originally (formerly - all along - at first)

原来 in a sentence HSK 4 繁體原來 yuanlai

What 原来 means

Originally (formerly - all along - at first)

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 原来 will read it the same way this page does.

Recognise a piece of 原来 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

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

原

yuán

Original (raw - forgive - plain - primary - source)

来

lái

Come (arrive)

Words that share a character with 原来

How to write 原来

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

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

原来 in a sentence

原来他早就知道了。

Yuánlái tā zǎo jiù zhīdào le.

So it turns out he knew all along.

这里原来是一个小村子。

Zhèlǐ yuánlái shì yí ge xiǎo cūnzi.

This place used to be a small village.

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

Questions about 原来

What does 原来 mean in English?

原来 is pronounced yuánlái and means Originally (formerly - all along - at first).

How do you pronounce 原来?

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

What are the characters in 原来?

原来 is written with 2 characters: 原 (yuán) Original (raw - forgive - plain - primary - source), 来 (lái) Come (arrive). Knowing the parts is usually how the whole word becomes memorable.

How is 原来 written in traditional Chinese?

原來. The simplified form 原来 is used in mainland China and Singapore; 原來 is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Both are pronounced yuánlái.

Is 原来 an HSK word?

Yes — 原来 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

羽毛球 yǔmáoqiú 语法 yǔfǎ 语言 yǔyán 预习 yùxí 原谅 yuánliàng 原因 yuányīn 约会 yuēhuì 阅读 yuèdú

Keep going

Translate a whole sentence containing 原来 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

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