(xié) - shoe in Mandarin
xiéTraditional: 鞋
Translation
shoe
Word origin
A phono-semantic compound: 革 (gé, leather) carries the meaning and 圭 (guī) supplies the sound. Leather footwear.
- Origin
- phono-semantic
- Root
- 革 (gé, leather) + 圭 (guī, phonetic)
Stroke order
鞋
Examples
。
This pair of shoes is too small.
。
Please take your shoes off before coming in.
。
He bought a new pair of shoes.
湿。
My shoes are wet.
。
Your shoes look very nice.
鞋 (xié) is a shoe. In speech it usually wears the noun suffix and comes out as 鞋子, and the types are built straight on top: 皮鞋 for leather shoes, 运动鞋 for trainers, 拖鞋 for slippers, 高跟鞋 for heels.
Measure words matter here. A pair is 一双鞋 and a single shoe is 一只鞋, which is one of the clearest places to feel the difference between 双 and 只.
The trap is number. Chinese does not mark plurals, so 我的鞋 is both my shoe and my shoes and only the measure word or the context tells you which. Also remember the verb: you 穿 shoes, the same verb as clothes, and you 脱 them at the door, which in most Chinese homes you actually do.
Where this fits
Used in
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鞋: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "鞋" (shoe): 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 50.