Chinese word

第

Pronunciation

Pinyindì

Meaning

  • ordinal numberthe ___th

Example

这是第三章。zhè shì dì sān zhāng

This is the third chapter.

Illustration for 第 (the ___th)

More examples

你是第几位？nǐ shì dì jǐ wèi

What is your place in line?

Core concept

A place tag before a number that marks its slot in an ordered set.

Common phrases

  • 第几dì jǐ

    which number

  • 第三dì sān

    third

  • 第十dì shí

    tenth

Similar words

第一dì yī: Means first in an ordered sequence.
第二dì èr: Means second in an ordered sequence.
第三dì sān: Means third in an ordered sequence.
第四dì sì: Means fourth in an ordered sequence.

Definition in Chinese

作为序数前缀使用，放在数词之前表示次序或顺位，常与“次”“名”“章”“位”等连用，例：这是第三章。zuò wéi xù shù qián zhuì shǐ yòng fàng zài shù cí zhī qián biǎo shì cì xù huò shùn wèi cháng yǔ cì míng zhāng wèi děng lián yòng lì zhè shì dì sān zhāng

Word origin

The character 第 (dì, "ordinal marker") is a semantic-phonetic compound: ⺮ (zhú, "bamboo radical") suggests its written form, and 弟 (dì, "younger brother") supplies the pronunciation.

Usage tips

  • Chinese distinguishes a position in a sequence from the number of times an event happens, a contrast that helps separate ranking from repetition in English sentences.

Word lists with this word