元 (yuán) means First (chief - coin - fundamental). Below are 20 sentences on this site that use it — with pinyin, an English translation and audio. All of them were written by hand; none is machine generated.
Dictionary examples
一共是一百二十 元 。
Yígòng shì yìbǎi èrshí yuán.
That comes to a hundred and twenty yuan.
Dictionary example · HSK 3 · 元
费用共计八千 元 。
Fèiyòng gòngjì bāqiān yuán.
The costs come to eight thousand yuan in total.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 共计
元 旦我们放一天假。
Yuándàn wǒmen fàng yì tiān jià.
We get a day off for New Year's Day.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 元旦
水由两种 元 素组成。
Shuǐ yóu liǎng zhǒng yuánsù zǔchéng.
Water is made up of two elements.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 元素
正月十五要吃 元 宵。
Zhēngyuè shíwǔ yào chī yuánxiāo.
On the fifteenth of the first lunar month one eats sweet dumplings.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 正月
元 旦那天他回了老家。
Yuándàn nà tiān tā huí le lǎojiā.
He went home on New Year's Day.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 元旦
两国 元 首举行了会谈。
Liǎng guó yuánshǒu jǔxíng le huìtán.
The heads of the two states held talks.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 元首
元 宵节人们会吃汤圆。
Yuánxiāo Jié rénmen huì chī tāngyuán.
At the Lantern Festival people eat sweet rice balls.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 元宵节
这座城建于公 元 五百年。
Zhè zuò chéng jiàn yú gōngyuán wǔbǎi nián.
This city was built in the year 500 AD.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 公元
公 元 前的历史很难研究。
Gōngyuán qián de lìshǐ hěn nán yánjiū.
History before the common era is hard to research.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 公元
这本书要五十 元 人民币。
Zhè běn shū yào wǔshí yuán rénmínbì.
This book costs fifty yuan.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 人民币
元 宵节有猜谜语的习俗。
Yuánxiāo Jié yǒu cāi míyǔ de xísú.
There is a custom of guessing riddles at the Lantern Festival.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 谜语
这本书的第一单 元 很简单。
Zhè běn shū de dì yī dānyuán hěn jiǎndān.
The first unit of this book is very easy.
Dictionary example · HSK 5 · 单元
公司正在推进业务多 元 化。
Gōngsī zhèngzài tuījìn yèwù duōyuánhuà.
The company is pushing forward the diversification of its business.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 多元化
元 首在电视上发表了讲话。
Yuánshǒu zài diànshì shang fābiǎo le jiǎnghuà.
The head of state gave a televised address.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 元首
这个设计融入了传统 元 素。
Zhège shèjì róngrù le chuántǒng yuánsù.
This design incorporates traditional elements.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 元素
元 宵节晚上到处挂着灯笼。
Yuánxiāo Jié wǎnshang dàochù guàzhe dēnglong.
On the night of the Lantern Festival lanterns hang everywhere.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 元宵节
这座城市的文化非常多 元 化。
Zhè zuò chéngshì de wénhuà fēicháng duōyuánhuà.
The culture of this city is highly diverse.
Dictionary example · HSK 6 · 多元化
Reading these is one thing; producing 元 yourself is another. Cloze in Context takes a sentence from this same bank, removes one word and asks you to put it back — beginner, intermediate and advanced.
Words that contain 元
Each of these has sentences of its own, so you can see the character doing a different job in each one.
Questions about 元
How is 元 used in a sentence?
This page shows 20 sentences using 元 (yuán, "First (chief - coin - fundamental)"), each with pinyin, an English translation and audio. Every one of them was written by hand for this site.
Are these sentences machine generated?
No. They come from the site's own dictionary examples, graded readers, travel phrasebook and grammar library — all written by a person. A word with no sentence gets no page here, rather than a page of invented ones.
Why do some sentences show 元 inside a longer word?
Because that is where a single character usually lives. Seeing 元 inside the words it builds is how the character stops being an isolated symbol and starts being something you can read.
Is 元 an HSK word?
Yes — 元 is on the official HSK 3 vocabulary list, and you can study it with the rest of that list on the HSK 3 page.
Where can I see the full entry for 元?
The dictionary page for 元 has its stroke order, its traditional form, every sense the dictionary lists and a character-by-character breakdown. It is linked at the top of this page.
Keep going
Read the full entry for 元, write a sentence of your own and check it in the Pinyin Annotator, drill it with HSK 3 flashcards, or search the whole sentence bank for another word.
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