沉默
HSK 4 (2021)Old HSK 5
沉默 (chénmò) · silent
沉默 (chénmò) means “silent; quiet; to be silent”. It is written with 2 characters: 沉 (to sink) + 默 (silent). It is an HSK 4 word in the 2021 standard.
How 沉默 is built
The characters
沉 chén · to sink
What 沉 is made of
- 氵shuǐ — water
- 冗rǒng — excessive
- 冖mì — cover
- 几jǐ — small table
- 丿 — falling stroke
- 乙yǐ — second
Origin hint: An excessive 冗 amount of water 氵 (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)
默 mò · silent
What 默 is made of
- 黑hēi — black
- 灬huǒ — fire
- 犬quǎn — dog
- 大dà — big
- 一 — horizontal stroke
- 人rén — person
- 丶 — dot
- 大dà — big
Origin hint: A dog 犬 watching in the dark 黑 (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)
Example sentences
听到这个消息，他沉默了很久。Tīngdào zhège xiāoxi, tā chénmò le hěn jiǔ.When he heard the news, he was silent for a long time.
你为什么一直沉默？Nǐ wèishénme yīzhí chénmò?Why have you been silent the whole time?
Questions about 沉默
What does 沉默 mean?
沉默 (chénmò) means “silent; quiet; to be silent”.
How do you pronounce 沉默?
沉默 is pronounced chénmò.
Which HSK level is 沉默?
沉默 is in HSK 4 (2021) and Old HSK 5.
Related words
- 沉重chénzhòngheavy
- 沉淀chéndiànto settle
- 沉闷chénmèndull
- 沉思chénsīto ponder
- 沉着chénzhuócalm
- 深沉shēnchéndeep
- 沉chénto sink
- 默默mòmòsilently
- 幽默yōumòhumor
- 潜移默化qiányímòhuàto influence imperceptibly
Learn 沉默 with its group
It is part of HSK 4 (2021) · Group 84: a short group with quick checks and spaced repeats.