Chinese word

公里

Pronunciation

Pinyingōng lǐ

Meaning

  • measure wordkilometer

Example

我家离公司有5公里。wǒ jiā lí gōng sī yǒu 5 gōng lǐ

My home is 5 kilometers away from the company.

Illustration for 公里 (kilometer)

More examples

从学校到商店大约有3公里。cóng xué xiào dào shāng diàn dà yuē yǒu 3 gōng lǐ

It is about 3 kilometers from the school to the store.

Core concept

A shared distance ruler for comparing how far apart places are or how far a vehicle travels.

Common phrases

  • 离...有公里lí yǒu gōng lǐ

    be ___ kilometers away from ___

  • 开了公里kāi le gōng lǐ

    drive ___ kilometers

  • 相距公里xiāng jù gōng lǐ

    be ___ kilometers apart

Similar words

米mǐ: A unit for measuring distance equal to one meter, placed after a number.

Definition in Chinese

长度单位，作量词与数字连用，1公里＝1000米，常用于具体化两点间的距离或行驶里程。cháng dù dān wèi zuò liàng cí yǔ shù zì lián yòng 1 gōng lǐ 1000 mǐ cháng yòng yú jù tǐ huà liáng diǎn jiān de jù lí huò xíng shǐ lǐ chéng

Word origin

公里 (gōnglǐ, "kilometer") combines 公 (gōng, "standard") with 里 (lǐ, "traditional distance unit"), linking the modern metric system to an older distance word.

Usage tips

  • Chinese places the number directly before a measure word, so a distance can be recognized quickly as a number-plus-unit pattern.

Related words

  • 公里数gōng lǐ shùnumber of kilometersnoun

Word lists with this word