Chinese word

才

Pronunciation

Pinyincái

Meaning

  • adverbonly

Example

我才十岁。wǒ cái shí suì

I am only ten years old.

Illustration for 才 (only)

More examples

昨天我才知道这个消息。zuó tiān wǒ cái zhī dào zhè ge xiāo xī

I only just found out about this news yesterday.

Core concept

A late arrival that finally appears at a particular point, often a small age, amount, or stretch of time.

Common phrases

  • 才知道cái zhī dào

    only just find out

  • 才开始cái kāi shǐ

    only just start

  • 才十岁cái shí suì

    only ten years old

Similar words

就jiù: Shows that an action happens right away or that a state already exists.
刚gāng: Marks an action or state as very recent.
只zhǐ: Limits the meaning to a particular amount, group, or range.

Definition in Chinese

表示动作或状态在时间上比预期更晚才发生，或刚刚才开始，常与表示年龄、时间或数量的词连用。biǎo shì dòng zuò huò zhuàng tài zài shí jiān shàng bǐ yù qī gèng wǎn cái fā shēng huò gāng gāng cái kāi shǐ cháng yǔ biǎo shì nián líng shí jiān huò shù liàng de cí lián yòng

Word origin

The character 才 (cái, "only") is traditionally associated with a first emergence, and the adverbial sense extends that idea to an event that does not become true until its point arrives.

Usage tips

  • In an age statement, this word presents the age as young for the situation, so the sentence conveys expectation as well as measurement.

Other meanings

  • not untiladverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word