Chinese word

订婚

Pronunciation

Pinyindìng hūn

Meaning

  • verbget engaged

Example

他们昨天订婚了。tā men zuó tiān dìng hūn le

They got engaged yesterday.

Illustration for 订婚 (get engaged)

More examples

她去年和大学同学订婚，不久前搬到一起住。tā qù nián hé dà xué tóng xué dìng hūn bù jiǔ qián bān dào yì qǐ zhù

She got engaged to a college classmate last year, and they recently moved in together.

Core concept

The stage in which two people have agreed to marry but are not yet legally married.

Common phrases

  • 与她订婚yǔ tā dìng hūn

    get engaged to her

  • 已经订婚yǐ jīng dìng hūn

    already engaged

Similar words

结婚jié hūn: Marry and become husband and wife.
求婚qiú hūn: Propose marriage and ask for the other person's agreement.

Definition in Chinese

双方确认结婚意向并形成婚约的动作或状态，通常介于求婚与正式结婚登记之间。shuāng fāng què rèn jié hūn yì xiàng bìng xíng chéng hūn yuē de dòng zuò huò zhuàng tài tōng cháng jiè yú qiú hūn yǔ zhèng shì jié hūn dēng jì zhī jiān

Word origin

订 (dìng, "make an agreement") + 婚 (hūn, "marriage") presents marriage as something agreed upon in advance, which gives the compound its sense of an engagement.

Usage tips

  • In mainland China, this stage is usually a social or family commitment, while legal marriage begins with 婚姻登记 (hūnyīn dēngjì, "marriage registration"), so the two stages are not the same.

Other meanings

  • engagementnoun

Opposites

Related words

  • 订婚仪式dìng hūn yí shìengagement ceremonynoun
  • 订婚戒指dìng hūn jiè zhǐengagement ringnoun

Word lists with this word