How to say “busy” in Chinese
busy (of a phone line)
“Busy” in Chinese is 占线, zhàn xiàn: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke.
How to pronounce it
占线 is read zhàn xiàn: 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
Hints at the reading of 站 and 战 zhàn. Second reading: zhān, “to divine”.
On the left, 纟 “thread”. 线上 — “on the line”, that is, online.
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 “占线”.
More words from the lesson “Calling customer support”
Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “busy” in Chinese?
“Busy” in Chinese is 占线, pinyin zhànxiàn.
What does 占线 mean?
占线 (zhànxiàn) means “busy (of a phone line)”.
How do you write 占线?
占线 is 2 characters: 占 (zhàn) — occupy; 线 (xiàn) — thread, line. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.
How do you pronounce 占线?
占线 is read zhànxiàn. Tones: zhàn — fourth tone, xiàn — fourth tone. The page has an audio recording.
“busy” in the lesson “Calling customer support”
This word is from the topic “Services and formalities” of HSK 5. 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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