Chinese word

抄写

Pronunciation

Pinyinchāo xiě

Meaning

  • verbcopy

Example

老师让我们把课文抄写到作业本上。lǎo shī ràng wǒ men bǎ kè wén chāo xiě dào zuò yè běn shàng

The teacher told us to copy the text into our exercise books.

Illustration for 抄写 (copy)

More examples

他把合同的主要条款抄写下来，方便核对。tā bǎ hé tóng de zhǔ yào tiáo kuǎn chāo xiě xià lái fāng biàn hé duì

He copied down the main clauses of the contract for easy checking.

Core concept

A careful hand-written transfer of words from one place to another, either in full or in selected parts.

Common phrases

  • 抄写合同chāo xiě hé tóng

    copy out a contract

  • 抄写原文chāo xiě yuán wén

    copy out the original text

  • 抄写下来chāo xiě xià lái

    copy down

Similar words

抄chāo: Copy text by hand using a familiar shortened form in everyday speech.
写下xiě xià: Put heard words or personal thoughts into writing so they are recorded.
记下jì xià: Record important information in writing as a reminder.
复制fù zhì: Make an identical copy of content with a device or software.

Definition in Chinese

用笔把书上的文字一字不差或择要写到别处，强调手写抄录的动作。yòng bǐ bǎ shū shàng de wén zì yí zì bú chà huò zé yào xiě dào bié chù qiáng diào shóu xiě chāo lù de dòng zuò

Word origin

抄 (chāo, "select or copy") + 写 (xiě, "write") combines the ideas of taking text from a source and writing it elsewhere.

Usage tips

  • In English, the verb for this action often leaves the method open, while this Chinese verb highlights writing the source text by hand.

Other meanings

  • transcribeverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word