HSK 7-9 Vocabulary List with Pinyin
5,595 words from the advanced band, levels 7-9 of HSK 3.0, the nine-level standard for Chinese proficiency, with pinyin and English translation.
| Chinese | Pinyin | Translation | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 辖区轄區 | administrative region | syn | |
| 狭小狹小 | narrow | syn | |
| 狭义狹義 | narrow sense / restricted sense | ||
| 狭窄狹窄 | narrow | syn | |
| 下半场下半場 | second half (of a match) | ||
| 下场下場 | to leave (the stage, an exam room, the playing field etc) / to take part in some activity / to take an examination (in the imperial examination system) | syn | |
| 下达下達 | to transmit to lower levels / to issue (a command, decree etc) | ||
| 下跌 | to fall / to tumble | syn | |
| 吓唬嚇唬 | to scare / to frighten | syn | |
| 下滑 | to slide down (a slope etc) / (fig.) to decline | syn | |
| 下级下級 | low ranking / low level / underclass / subordinate | syn | |
| 下令 | to give an order / to issue an order | syn | |
| 下落 | whereabouts / to drop / to fall | syn | |
| 吓人嚇人 | to scare / scary / frightening | syn | |
| 下手 | to start / to put one's hand to / to set about / the seat to the right of the main guest | syn | |
| 下属下屬 | subordinate / underling | syn | |
| 下台下臺 | to go off the stage / to fall from position of prestige / to step down (from office etc) / to disentangle oneself / to get off the hook | syn | |
| 下调下調 | to adjust downwards / to lower (prices, wages etc) | ||
| 下行 | (of trains) down (i.e. away from the capital) / (of river boats) to travel downstream / to issue (a document) to lower bureaucratic levels / (of writing on the page) vertical, proceeding from top to bottom | syn | |
| 下意识下意識 | subconscious mind | syn | |
| 下游 | lower reaches (of a river) / lower level / lower echelon / downstream | syn | |
| 下坠下墜 | (of objects) to fall / to drop / to droop / (medicine) to experience tenesmus | ||
| 掀 | to lift (a lid) / to rock / to convulse | syn | |
| 先锋先鋒 | vanguard / pioneer / avant-garde | syn | |
| 仙鹤仙鶴 | red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis) | syn | |
| 鲜活鮮活 | vivid / lively / (of food ingredients) live or fresh | syn | |
| 先例 | precedent | syn | |
| 鲜美鮮美 | delicious / tasty | syn | |
| 仙女 | fairy | syn | |
| 掀起 | to lift / to raise (a lid etc) / (of a storm) to surge / to stir up (waves etc) / (fig.) to trigger / set off (a wave of popularity, a controversy etc) | syn | |
| 先天 | embryonic period (contrasted with 後天|后天[hou4tian1]) / inborn / innate / natural | syn | |
| 纤维纖維 | fiber / CL:種|种[zhong3] | syn | |
| 鲜血鮮血 | blood | ||
| 弦 | bow string / string of musical instrument / watchspring / chord (segment of curve) / hypotenuse / CL:根[gen1] | syn | |
| 闲话閒話 | casual conversation / chat / gossip / to talk about (whatever comes to mind) | syn | |
| 衔接銜接 | to link up / to connect / to join | syn | |
| 嫌弃嫌棄 | to regard with disdain / to shun | syn | |
| 嫌疑 | suspicion / to have suspicions | syn | |
| 闲置閒置 | to leave sth unused / to lie idle | syn | |
| 显而易见顯而易見 | clearly and easy to see (idiom) / obviously / clearly / it goes without saying | syn | |
| 显赫顯赫 | illustrious / celebrated | syn | |
| 显露顯露 | to become visible / to reveal | syn | |
| 显示器顯示器 | monitor (computer) | ||
| 显微镜顯微鏡 | microscope / CL:臺|台[tai2] | ||
| 鲜为人知鮮為人知 | rarely known to anyone (idiom) / almost unknown / secret to all but a few | syn | |
| 显现顯現 | appearance / to appear | syn | |
| 显性顯性 | visible / conspicuous / phanero- / dominant (gene) | ||
| 显眼顯眼 | conspicuous / eye-catching / glamorous | syn | |
| 陷 | pitfall / trap / to get stuck / to sink / to cave in / to frame (false charge) / to capture (a city in battle) / to fall (to the enemy) / defect | syn | |
| 馅餡 | filling / stuffing (for dumplings, pies etc) | syn | |
| 献獻 | to offer / to present / to dedicate / to donate / to show / to put on display / worthy person (old) | syn | |
| 现成現成 | ready-made / readily available | syn | |
| 限定 | to restrict to / to limit | syn | |
| 宪法憲法 | constitution (of a country) / CL:部[bu4] | syn | |
| 陷害 | to entrap / to set up / to frame (up) / to make false charges against | syn | |
| 陷阱 | pitfall / snare / trap | syn | |
| 现任現任 | to occupy a post currently / current (president etc) / incumbent / (coll.) current boyfriend (girlfriend, spouse) | ||
| 线条線條 | line (in drawing, calligraphy etc) / the lines or contours of a three-dimensional object (hairstyle, clothing, car etc) | syn | |
| 现行現行 | to be in effect / in force / current | syn | |
| 镶鑲 | to inlay / to embed / ridge / border | syn | |
| 相伴 | to accompany sb / to accompany each other | syn | |
| 相辅相成相輔相成 | to complement one another (idiom) | syn | |
| 相继相繼 | in succession / following closely | syn | |
| 相近 | close / similar to | syn | |
| 香料 | spice / flavoring / condiment / perfume | syn | |
| 镶嵌鑲嵌 | to inlay / to embed / to set (e.g. a jewel in a ring) / tiling / tesselation | syn | |
| 乡亲鄉親 | fellow countryman (from the same village) / local people / villager / the folks back home | syn | |
| 相识相識 | to get to know each other / acquaintance | syn | |
| 相提并论相提並論 | to discuss two disparate things together (idiom) / to mention on equal terms / to place on a par with / (often with negatives: impossible to mention X in the same breath as Y) | syn | |
| 相通 | interlinked / connected / communicating / in communication / accommodating | syn | |
| 乡下鄉下 | countryside / rural area / CL:個|个[ge4] | syn | |
| 香油 | sesame oil / perfumed oil | syn | |
| 相遇 | to meet / to encounter / to come across | syn | |
| 相约相約 | to agree (on a meeting place, date etc) / to reach agreement / to make an appointment | ||
| 祥和 | auspicious and peaceful | syn | |
| 详尽詳盡 | thorough and detailed / exhaustive / the tedious details in full | syn | |
| 享亯 | old variant of 享[xiang3] | syn | |
| 想方设法想方設法 | to think up every possible method (idiom) / to devise ways and means / to try this, that and the other | syn | |
| 响亮響亮 | loud and clear / resounding | syn | |
| 响应響應 | to respond to / answer / CL:個|个[ge4] | syn | |
| 享用 | to enjoy (i.e. have the use or benefit of) | syn | |
| 享有 | to enjoy (rights, privileges etc) | syn | |
| 巷 | lane / alley | syn | |
| 向导嚮導 | guide | syn | |
| 橡胶橡膠 | rubber / caoutchouc | syn | |
| 向来向來 | always (previously) | syn | |
| 相貌 | appearance | syn | |
| 像样像樣 | presentable / decent / up to par | syn | |
| 消 | to diminish / to subside / to consume / to reduce / to idle away (the time) / (after 不[bu4] or 只[zhi3] or 何[he2] etc) to need / to require / to take | syn | |
| 销銷 | to melt (metal) / to cancel / to annul / to sell / to expend / to spend / pin / bolt / to fasten with a pin or bolt | syn | |
| 削 | to peel with a knife / to pare / to cut (a ball at tennis etc) | syn | |
| 消沉 | to sink into despondency / (of morale, willpower etc) to diminish / to plummet | syn | |
| 销毁銷毀 | to destroy (by melting or burning) / to obliterate | syn | |
| 消磨 | to wear down / to sap / to whittle away / to while away / to idle away | syn | |
| 消遣 | to while the time away / amusement / pastime / recreation / to make sport of | syn | |
| 潇洒瀟灑 | confident and at ease / free and easy | syn | |
| 萧条蕭條 | bleak / desolate / (economics) in a slump / sluggish / depressed | syn | |
| 嚣张囂張 | rampant / unbridled / arrogant / aggressive | syn | |
| 小菜一碟 | a small appetizer / a piece of cake / very easy (idiom) | ||
| 小丑 | clown | syn |
The four tones
What the advanced band of HSK 3.0 covers
HSK 3.0 is the revision of the Chinese proficiency test published in March 2021 by China's Ministry of Education and its National Language Commission. It replaces six levels with nine, grouped in three bands: elementary (1 to 3), intermediate (4 to 6) and advanced (7 to 9). The vocabulary of the whole scheme comes to roughly eleven thousand words, against about five thousand at the top of the old six-level system.
The advanced band is one exam, not three. Every candidate sits the same paper, and the score decides whether they are placed at level 7, level 8, level 9 or none of them. It has been running worldwide since November 2022, several years before the lower bands were revised in their turn, and it is taken on a computer only.
The list below is the vocabulary the advanced band adds on top of the first six levels — the words numbered from 5401 upward in the official standard, in the alphabetical order by pinyin that the published list uses. It is more than half of the entire vocabulary of the nine-level scheme, which is why the step up to this band is measured in years.
Every word links to its dictionary entry, where you will find the full definition, the traditional form, the audio pronunciation and example sentences.