第
Tap the pinyin to hear it
(prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六[di4 liu4] "sixth"); (literary) grades in which successful candidates in the imperial examinations were placed; (old) residence of a high official; (literary) but; however; (literary) only; just
- HSK 3.0
- Level 1
- Old HSK
- Level 2
- Strokes
- 11
- Radical
- 竹 +5
- Structure
- Top–bottom 上下
- Traditional
- 第
- Common rank
- #734
- Unicode
- U+7B2C
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How 第 is formed
Ideographic compound (会意字)
Bamboo strips ⺮ arrayed in sequence; 弟 provides the pronunciation
How to remember it
No. · Heisig RSH #1023
竹 bamboo + dollar sign
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 第
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 天下第一 | first under heaven; number one in the country | |
| 第一基本形式 | (math.) first fundamental form | |
| 印第安纳波利斯 | Indianapolis, Indiana | |
| 第一夫人 | First Lady (wife of the head of state) | |
| 第一作者 | first author (of an academic paper) | |
| 第比利斯 | T'bilisi, capital of Georgia 格魯吉亞|格鲁吉亚[Ge2 lu3 ji2 ya4] | |
| 北京第二外国语学院 | Beijing International Studies University (BISU) | |
| 第一手 | first-hand | |
| 第一时间 | in the first moments (of sth happening); immediately (after an event); first thing | |
| 第三地 | territory belonging to a third party (as a neutral location for peace negotiations or as a… | |
| 法拉第 | Faraday (name); Michael Faraday (1791-1867), British experimental physicist prominent in t… | |
| 第一眼 | at first glance; at first sight | |
| 第一次世界大战 | World War One | |
| 科学技术是第一生产力 | science and technology is the number one productive force (from a 1978 speech by Deng Xiao… | |
| 第一线 | front line; forefront | |
| 第一流 | first-class | |
| 加里波第 | Guiseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), Italian military commander and politician | |
| 爱德华·达拉第 | Édouard Daladier (1884-1970), French politician | |
| 印第安人 | American Indians | |
| 第一产业 | primary sector of industry |