Chinese word

相当

Pronunciation

Pinyinxiāng dāng

Meaning

  • adverbquite

Example

今天相当热。jīn tiān xiāng dāng rè

It is quite hot today.

Illustration for 相当 (quite)

More examples

她的衣服相当漂亮。tā de yī fú xiāng dāng piào liàng

Her clothes are quite beautiful.

Core concept

A level is high enough to be noticeable or close enough to match a related level.

Common phrases

  • 相当漂亮xiāng dāng piào liàng

    quite beautiful

  • 相当忙xiāng dāng máng

    quite busy

  • 相当严重xiāng dāng yán zhòng

    quite serious

Similar words

很hěn: Marks a clearly high degree in a simple, neutral way before an adjective or verb.
非常fēi cháng: Marks an extremely high degree or intensity before an adjective or verb.
比较bǐ jiào: Marks a somewhat high degree, often suggesting a moderate or relative level.
挺tǐng: Marks a fairly high degree in informal spoken language, often before an adjective.

Definition in Chinese

用来表示明显高于一般程度的副词，可与其他程度词连用或单独使用，通常置于形容词或动词前以突出状态的显著性。yòng lái biǎo shì míng xiǎn gāo yú yì bān chéng dù de fù cí kě yǔ qí tā chéng dù cí lián yòng huò dān dú shǐ yòng tōng cháng zhì yú xíng róng cí huò dòng cí qián yǐ tū chū zhuàng tài de xiǎn zhù xìng

Word origin

相 (xiāng, "each other") + 当 (dāng, "fit") joins the ideas of mutual comparison and suitability, leading from matching a standard to showing a notably high degree.

Usage tips

  • The word can come before an adjective or verb, and another degree word can appear with it, so its strength depends on the whole phrase rather than on one fixed English equivalent.

Other meanings

  • correspondverb
  • considerableadjective

Opposites

Word lists with this word