Chinese word

分别

Pronunciation

Pinyinfēn bié

Meaning

  • adverbeach

Example

他们分别来自不同的城市。tā men fēn bié lái zì bù tóng de chéng shì

They each come from a different city.

Illustration for 分别 (each)

More examples

他们分别学习不同的专业。tā men fēn bié xué xí bù tóng de zhuān yè

They each study different majors.

Core concept

One shared group breaks into individual lines, and every member proceeds independently.

Common phrases

  • 分别来自fēn bié lái zì

    each come from ___

  • 分别是fēn bié shì

    each be ___

  • 分别学习fēn bié xué xí

    each study

Similar words

各自gè zì: Shows each person or thing acting in its own way or handling its own part.

Definition in Chinese

表示将事物或情况加以区分后，各自按不同方式发生或处理，相当于“各自”的意思。biǎo shì jiāng shì wù huò qíng kuàng jiā yǐ qū fēn hòu gè zì àn bù tóng fāng shì fā shēng huò chú lǐ xiāng dāng yú gè zì de yì si

Word origin

分别 (fēnbié, "each; separately") is formed from 分 (fēn, "divide") + 别 (bié, "separate"), giving the idea of dividing things into distinct units for individual treatment.

Usage tips

  • The word is useful when one sentence gives parallel information about several subjects, because it makes the one-to-one connection between each subject and its action clear.

Other meanings

  • separatelyadverb
  • distinguishverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word