Kilo Lingo

(dì) - ordinal-number prefix (used before numbers) in Mandarin

Traditional: 第

Line drawing of 第
Coloured illustration of 第
HSK 2
#727 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

ordinal-number prefix (used before numbers)

Word origin

第 has the 竹 (bamboo) radical and is related to 弟 (dì, sequence), originally tied to the order of bamboo slips. It functions as the ordinal-number prefix, marking 'first, second' and so on.

Origin
phono-semantic compound
Root
竹 (zhú, bamboo radical) + 弟 (dì, phonetic, sense of sequence)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 第

Examples

I am number one.

This is the third time.

He sits in the second row.

He is in first place.

He is our first child.

Where this fits

Appears in 4 words

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 第.

Used in

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Mandarin · Free printables

第: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "第" (ordinal-number prefix (used before numbers)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 15.