ENESFRDE中文

Characters, words, pinyin or English

短 duǎn short

How to remember 短: 矢 arrow + 豆 bean = short. At the archery club the boy's arrow hits a bean bag two metres away, and his moment of glory is very short.

  • 889. most frequent character
  • HSK 3
  • 12 strokes
  • Radical 矢

Component breakdown

短 = 矢 arrow + 豆 bean

  • 矢 arrow
  • 豆 bean
The Gushi story

At the archery club the boy's arrow hits a bean bag two metres away, and his moment of glory is very short.

How it is used

  • "Short" in length or duration, the opposite of 长 (cháng) - 短裤 (duǎnkù) shorts, 短期 (duǎnqī) short-term, 短暂 (duǎnzàn) brief/fleeting, 长裤 (chángkù) long trousers.
  • Use 短 for length/time, not height (that's 矮 ǎi for people): 头发很短 (tóufa hěn duǎn) short hair, but 他很矮 (tā hěn ǎi) he's short.
  • 短信 (duǎnxìn) = text message; figuratively 短处 (duǎnchù) = a weakness/shortcoming, paired against 长处 (chángchù) strong point.

Words with 短

Example sentences

  • 这条裤子有点短了。 Zhè tiáo kùzi yǒudiǎn duǎn le.These trousers are a little short.
  • 手机一打开，他就接到一连串的短信． Shǒujī yī dǎkāi, tā jiù jiē dào yīliánchuàn de duǎnxìn.The moment his cell phone was turned on, he received a series of text messages.