Chinese word

堆

Pronunciation

Pinyinduī

Meaning

  • nounpile

Example

门口有一堆衣服。mén kǒu yǒu yì duī yī fú

There is a pile of clothes at the door.

Illustration for 堆 (pile)

More examples

桌子上放着一堆书。zhuō zi shàng fàng zhe yì duī shū

There is a pile of books on the table.

Core concept

A concentrated mass of loose things or earth that gathers in one place and rises as it grows.

Common phrases

  • 一堆衣服yì duī yī fú

    pile of clothes

  • 一堆书yì duī shū

    pile of books

  • 一堆问题yì duī wèn tí

    pile of problems

Definition in Chinese

大量东西聚集并堆起形成的堆状体，可指土堆或衣物等杂物的堆积，强调高度和集中性。dà liàng dōng xī jù jí bìng duī qǐ xíng chéng de duī zhuàng tǐ kě zhǐ tǔ duī huò yī wù děng zá wù de duī jī qiáng diào gāo dù hé jí zhōng xìng

Word origin

堆 (duī, "pile") is a phono-semantic formation from 土 (tǔ, "earth") + 隹 (zhuī, "short-tailed bird"), with 土 pointing to an earthen accumulation and 隹 mainly supplying the sound.

Usage tips

  • In everyday Chinese, the noun sense extends naturally to a verb for placing loose objects together, so location phrases often show where the growing mass is put.

Other meanings

  • pile upverb

Related words

Word lists with this word