How to say “drill” in Chinese
drill; squeeze through, penetrate
“Drill” in Chinese is 钻, zuān: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke and examples.
How to pronounce it
钻 is read zuān. 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, 钅 “metal”: a drill. On the right, 占. In the sense “drill bit, diamond” it is read zuàn.
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 “钻”.
Examples
Sentences from the course lessons with 钻. Tap the sound icon to listen.
- 猫钻到床底下去了māozuāndàochuángdǐxiaqùleThe cat crawled under the bed.
More characters by topic — happiness, luck, strength, nature — on the page “Chinese characters with meanings”.
More words from the lesson “Barging in and squeezing through”
Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say “drill” in Chinese?
“Drill” in Chinese is 钻, pinyin zuān.
What does 钻 mean?
钻 (zuān) means “drill; squeeze through, penetrate”.
How do you write 钻?
钻 is 1 character. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.
How do you pronounce 钻?
钻 is read zuān. Tones: zuān — first tone. The page has a native speaker recording.
“drill” in the lesson “Barging in and squeezing through”
This word is from the topic “Body movement” 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.
Start for free