How to say “minor” in Chinese

未成年人

wèichéngniánrén

minor (under-age)

noun · HSK 6 · topic “Society”

“Minor” in Chinese is 未成年人, wèi chéng nián rén: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke and examples.

How to pronounce it

未成年人 is read wèi chéng nián rén: 4 syllables. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.

wèi — 4th tonesharply falling, like “Stop!”

chéng — 2nd tonerising, like a surprised “huh?”

nián — 2nd tonerising, like a surprised “huh?”

rén — 2nd tonerising, like a surprised “huh?”

How to write it

未

wèi — not yet

Looks like 末 mò “end”: in 未 the top stroke is shorter than the bottom one. Hints at the reading of 味 wèi.

成

chéng — become; complete

It hints at the sound in 城 chéng “city”.

年

nián — year

人

rén — person

A picture of a walking person: two legs.

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 “未成年人”.

Examples

Sentences from the course lessons with 未成年人. Tap the sound icon to listen.

未成年人不能买酒wèichéngniánrénbùnéngmǎijiǔMinors can't buy alcohol.
凡是未成年人都不能买酒fánshìwèichéngniánrén,dōubùnéngmǎijiǔAnyone who is a minor can't buy alcohol.
我们应该保护未成年人的隐私wǒmenyīnggāibǎohùwèichéngniánréndeyǐnsīWe should protect minors' personal data.

More words from the lesson “Privacy and difficult topics”

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

Frequently asked questions

How do you say “minor” in Chinese?

“Minor” in Chinese is 未成年人, pinyin wèichéngniánrén.

What does 未成年人 mean?

未成年人 (wèichéngniánrén) means “minor (under-age)”.

How do you write 未成年人?

未成年人 is 4 characters: 未 (wèi) — not yet; 成 (chéng) — become; complete; 年 (nián) — year; 人 (rén) — person. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.

How do you pronounce 未成年人?

未成年人 is read wèichéngniánrén. Tones: wèi — fourth tone, chéng — second tone, nián — second tone, rén — second tone. The page has an audio recording.

“minor” in the lesson “Privacy and difficult topics”

This word is from the topic “Society” of HSK 6. 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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