读音 (dú yīn) — Chinese Word

noun HSK 4

Traditional 讀音

dú yīn

pronunciation · reading (of a character)

Meaning

读音 refers to the pronunciation of a word or character in Chinese. It's commonly used when discussing how to say a particular character or word, especially when there might be multiple possible readings or when clarifying the correct pronunciation.

Usage

This is a formal but common term used in educational contexts, dictionaries, and language learning. Native speakers often use it when asking 'What's the pronunciation of this character?' (这个字的读音是什么？). It's particularly important in Chinese because many characters have multiple possible readings depending on context.

Examples

01
这个字的读音是什么？
Zhè ge zì de dú yīn shì shén me?
What is the pronunciation of this character?
02
长这个字有两个读音，一个是cháng，一个是zhǎng。
Cháng zhè ge zì yǒu liǎng ge dú yīn, yī ge shì cháng, yī ge shì zhǎng.
The character 长 has two pronunciations, one is cháng and one is zhǎng.

Characters

Measure words

种zhǒng两种读音

Common collocations

读音不准
dú yīn bù zhǔn
inaccurate pronunciation
正确的读音
zhèng què de dú yīn
correct pronunciation
这个字有两个读音
zhè ge zì yǒu liǎng ge dú yīn
this character has two pronunciations

Origin

Literally means 'reading sound,' combining the verb 读 (to read) with 音 (sound/tone) to refer to how something is pronounced when read aloud.