(qún zǐ) - skirt in Mandarin
qúnzǐTraditional: 裙子
Translation
skirt
Word origin
裙 is a phono-semantic character, the clothing radical 衤 with 君 (jūn) for sound, and 子 is the noun suffix that turns many everyday objects into two-syllable words.
- Origin
- phono-semantic
- Root
- 衤 (clothing radical) + 君 (jūn, phonetic) + 子 (noun suffix)
Stroke order
裙
子
Examples
。
She is wearing a red skirt today.
。
This skirt is a bit short.
。
I want to buy a new skirt.
。
The skirt is hanging behind the door.
配。
Her skirt and her shoes go well together.
裙子 (qún zi) is a skirt. The 子 on the end is the same unstressed suffix you see in 裤子, 鞋子 and 帽子, and in speech it drops to a neutral tone.
The measure word is 条, the one for long thin things, shared with 裤子 and 围巾. Reaching for 件, which learners do because it is the default for clothing, sounds wrong: say 一条裙子, not 一件裙子.
The trap is coverage. 裙子 also gets used loosely for a dress, because Chinese groups the two by silhouette rather than by construction. If you need to be precise, a dress is 连衣裙, literally a joined-top skirt. Ask a friend about her 新裙子 and you may be shown either garment.
Where this fits
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裙子: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "裙子" (skirt): 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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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 52.