How to say “hour” in Chinese
hour (duration)
“Hour” in Chinese is 小时, xiǎo shí: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke and examples.
How to pronounce it
小时 is read xiǎo shí: 2 syllables. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.
How to write it
On the left, 日 “sun”.
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 “小时”.
Examples
Sentences from the course lessons with 小时. Tap the sound icon to listen.
- 飞机晚点了一个小时fēijīwǎndiǎnleyígexiǎoshíThe plane was delayed by an hour.
- 他比我早起一个小时。tābǐwǒzǎoqǐyígexiǎoshíHe gets up an hour earlier than me.
- 请提前两个小时到机场qǐngtíqiánliǎnggexiǎoshídàojīchǎngPlease arrive at the airport two hours early.
- 我们排队排了一个小时。wǒmenpáiduìpáileyígexiǎoshíWe stood in line for an hour.
- 从这儿到机场大约需要一个小时。cóngzhèrdàojīchǎngdàyuēxūyàoyígexiǎoshíIt takes about an hour to get from here to the airport.
- 你至少要睡七个小时nǐzhìshǎoyàoshuìqīgexiǎoshíYou need to sleep at least seven hours.
More words from the lesson “What time is it?”
Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “hour” in Chinese?
“Hour” in Chinese is 小时, pinyin xiǎoshí.
What does 小时 mean?
小时 (xiǎoshí) means “hour (duration)”.
How do you write 小时?
小时 is 2 characters: 小 (xiǎo) — small; 时 (shí) — time. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.
How do you pronounce 小时?
小时 is read xiǎoshí. Tones: xiǎo — third tone, shí — second tone. The page has a native speaker recording.
“hour” in the lesson “What time is it?”
This word is from the topic “Time and the day” of HSK 1. 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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