Chinese Conversation · Level 43
90 words
Chinese word
秒
Pronunciation
Pinyinmiǎo
Meaning
- nounsecond
Example
倒计时只剩下最后几秒了。dào jì shí zhǐ shèng xià zuì hòu jí miǎo le
There are only a few seconds left in the countdown.
More examples
他只花了几秒就完成了这道题。tā zhǐ huā le jí miǎo jiù wán chéng le zhè dào tí
He finished this problem in just a few seconds.
Core concept
A small, bounded piece of time that turns a fleeting event or short wait into something countable.
Common phrases
几秒钟jí miǎo zhōng
a few seconds
以秒计时yǐ miǎo jì shí
measure in seconds
每秒méi miǎo
per second
Similar words
秒钟miǎo zhōng: An everyday spoken term for a second, used for brief periods of time.
分fēn: A unit of time equal to one sixtieth of an hour.
小时xiǎo shí: A unit of time lasting sixty minutes.
瞬间shùn jiān: A very brief span of time.
Definition in Chinese
表示时间的短暂间隔，也是时间的计量单位，等于一分钟的六十分之一，常用于表示动作发生的瞬间或持续数秒的时长。biǎo shì shí jiān de duǎn zàn jiàn gé yě shì shí jiān de jì liàng dān wèi děng yú yì fēn zhōng de liù shí fēn zhī yī cháng yòng yú biǎo shì dòng zuò fā shēng de shùn jiān huò chí xù shù miǎo de shí cháng
Word origin
The word 秒 (miǎo, "second") extends the older sense of a fine grain awn, a very small part, to the precise time unit of one sixtieth of a minute.
Usage tips
- Spoken Chinese often uses an approximate number with this unit, so a brief duration can be expressed without claiming stopwatch-level precision.
Other meanings
- momentnoun
- a short timenoun
Opposites
- 永恒yǒng héngeternitynoun
- 永久yóng jiǔpermanencenoun
Related words
- 毫秒háo miǎomillisecondnoun
- 秒表miáo biǎostopwatchnoun