How to say “work” in Chinese

干活儿
gànhuór

work, do a job (colloq.)

verb · HSK 4 · topic “Profession and plans”

“Work” in Chinese is 干活儿, gàn huó r: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke.

How to pronounce it

干活儿 is read gàn huó r: 3 syllables. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.

gàn — 4th tonesharply falling, like “Stop!”
huó — 2nd tonerising, like a surprised “huh?”
r — neutral toneshort and unstressed

How to write it

干
gān — dry; do

Two readings: gān in 干净 and gàn, “do”.

活
huó — live; alive

On the left, 氵 “water”.

儿
ér — child, son

At the end of a word it turns into an “r” sound: 一点儿.

Strokes go in order: top to bottom and left to right, horizontal before vertical. Tap a character to open its page, with the strokes shown large and the words it appears in. To train your hand, print a handwriting sheet for “干活儿”.

More words from the lesson “At the factory”

Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.

Frequently asked questions

How do you say “work” in Chinese?

“Work” in Chinese is 干活儿, pinyin gànhuór.

What does 干活儿 mean?

干活儿 (gànhuór) means “work, do a job (colloq.)”.

How do you write 干活儿?

干活儿 is 3 characters: 干 (gān) — dry; do; 活 (huó) — live; alive; 儿 (ér) — child, son. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.

How do you pronounce 干活儿?

干活儿 is read gànhuór. Tones: gàn — fourth tone, huó — second tone, r — neutral tone. The page has a native speaker recording.

“work” in the lesson “At the factory”

This word is from the topic “Profession and plans” of HSK 4. In the lesson you hear it in a dialogue, build a sentence with it and say it out loud. Start for free, no sign-up needed.

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