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Chinese abbreviations

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How Chinese abbreviations are made

Full formShort formHow
Peking University北京大学 北大 First character of each word
Traffic police交通警察 交警 First character of each word
Environmental protection环境保护 环保 First character of each word
Supermarket超级市场 超市 First character of each word
CCTV中央电视台 央视 The key characters
Spring Festival Gala春节联欢晚会 春晚 The key characters
College entrance exam高等学校招生考试 高考 The key characters
Bus公交车 公交 Drop the last character
Expressway高速公路 高速 Drop the last word
Beijing北京 京 One character

Words for abbreviations

  1. suō缩xiě写

    abbreviation; acronym

  2. jiǎn简chēng称

    abbreviation; short form

  3. suō缩lüè略yǔ语

    abbreviation; acronym

Everyday short words

  1. chāo超shì市

    supermarket (short for 超级市场)

  2. gāo高kǎo考

    college entrance exam (in China) (short for 高等学校招生考试)

  3. huán环bǎo保

    environmental protection (short for 环境保护)

  4. wài外mào贸

    foreign trade (short for 对外贸易)

  5. wài外qǐ企

    foreign company (short for 外资企业)

  6. guó国qǐ企

    state-owned enterprise (short for 国有企业)

  7. yī医bǎo保

    medical insurance (short for 医疗保险)

  8. shè社bǎo保

    social insurance; social security (short for 社会保险)

  9. gōng公jī积jīn金

    housing provident fund (short for 住房公积金)

  10. jiāo交jǐng警

    traffic police (short for 交通警察)

  11. kē科yán研

    scientific research (short for 科学研究)

  12. gāo高sù速

    expressway; highway (short for 高速公路)

  13. huà化gōng工

    chemical industry (short for 化学工业)

  14. gōng公jiāo交

    bus (short for 公交车)

Schools, media and big events

  1. běi北dà大

    Peking University (short for 北京大学)

  2. qīng清huá华

    Tsinghua University (short for 清华大学)

  3. fù复dàn旦

    Fudan (short for 复旦大学, a university in Shanghai)

  4. běi北shī师dà大

    Beijing Normal University (short for 北京师范大学)

  5. zhōng中kē科yuàn院

    Chinese Academy of Sciences (short for 中国科学院)

  6. yāng央shì视

    CCTV (short for 中央电视台)

  7. chūn春wǎn晚

    Spring Festival Gala (short for 春节联欢晚会)

  8. ào奥yùn运

    Olympics (short for 奥林匹克运动会)

  9. shì世bó博huì会

    World Expo (short for 世界博览会)

  10. ōu欧méng盟

    EU; European Union (short for 欧洲联盟)

  11. shì世wèi卫

    WHO (short for 世界卫生组织)

  12. rén人dà大

    National People's Congress (short for 全国人民代表大会)

  13. zhèng政xié协

    CPPCC (short for 中国人民政治协商会议)

Countries in one character

  1. zhōng中

    China; Chinese (short form)

  2. měi美

    America; American (short form)

  3. yīng英

    Britain; English (short for 英国, 英语)

  4. rì日

    Japan; Japanese (short form)

  5. fǎ法

    France; French (short form)

  6. dé德

    Germany (short for 德国)

  7. hán韩

    South Korea; Korea (short for 韩国)

  8. é俄

    Russia (short for 俄罗斯)

  9. ōu欧

    Europe (short for 欧洲)

  10. yà亚

    Asia (short for 亚洲)

  11. hàn汉

    Chinese language (short for 汉语)

Province short names

  1. jīng京

    Beijing (short for 北京)

  2. hù沪

    Shanghai (short for 上海)

  3. jīn津

    Tianjin (short for 天津)

  4. yú渝

    Chongqing (short for 重庆)

  5. jì冀

    Hebei (short for 河北)

  6. jìn晋

    Shanxi (short for 山西)

  7. liáo辽

    Liaoning (short for 辽宁)

  8. jí吉

    Jilin (short for 吉林)

  9. hēi黑

    Heilongjiang (short for 黑龙江)

  10. sū苏

    Jiangsu or Suzhou (short for 江苏, 苏州)

  11. zhè浙

    Zhejiang (short for 浙江)

  12. wǎn皖

    Anhui (abbreviation for the province)

  13. mǐn闽

    Fujian (short for 福建)

  14. gàn赣

    Jiangxi (short for 江西)

  15. lǔ鲁

    Shandong (short for 山东)

  16. yù豫

    Henan (short for 河南)

  17. è鄂

    Hubei (short for 湖北)

  18. xiāng湘

    Hunan (short for 湖南)

  19. yuè粤

    Guangdong (short for the province)

  20. qióng琼

    Hainan (short for 海南)

  21. chuān川

    Sichuan (short for 四川)

  22. qián黔

    Guizhou (short for the province)

  23. diān滇

    Yunnan (short for 云南)

  24. shǎn陕

    Shaanxi (short for the province)

  25. gān甘

    Gansu (short for 甘肃)

  26. qīng青

    Qinghai (short for 青海)

  27. guì桂

    Guangxi (short for 广西)

  28. zàng藏

    Tibet; Tibetan (short for 西藏)

  29. níng宁

    Ningxia (short for 宁夏)

  30. gǎng港

    Hong Kong (short for 香港)

  31. ào澳

    Macao (short for 澳门)

  32. tái台

    Taiwan (short form)

One character for a word

  1. lán篮

    basketball (short for 篮球)

  2. zú足

    football (short for 足球)

  3. màn漫

    comics; manga (short for 漫画)

  4. bó博

    blog (short for 博客)

How are Chinese abbreviations made?

Usually by keeping one character from each word of the full name: 北京大学 (Běijīng Dàxué), Peking University, becomes 北大 (Běi-Dà), and 环境保护, environmental protection, becomes 环保 (huánbǎo). Long names keep their key characters, as 春节联欢晚会 becomes 春晚 (Chūnwǎn), and some just drop the end, as 公交车 becomes 公交 (gōngjiāo). An abbreviation is 缩写 (suōxiě) or 简称 (jiǎnchēng).

What are the abbreviations of the Chinese provinces?

Every province has a one-character short name, used on car plates, in train and road names and in the news: 京 (jīng) Beijing, 沪 (hù) Shanghai, 粤 (yuè) Guangdong, 川 (chuān) Sichuan, 鲁 (lǔ) Shandong. A Beijing car plate starts 京A. Some have a second, older name: Sichuan is also 蜀 (shǔ), Guizhou 贵 or 黔, Yunnan 云 or 滇, Shaanxi 陕 or 秦, Gansu 甘 or 陇. Inner Mongolia is 蒙 and Xinjiang 新.

What is the abbreviation for the Chinese language?

The language code for Chinese is zh (and zho or chi), and Mandarin on its own is cmn. Websites write zh-CN or zh-Hans for simplified characters and zh-TW or zh-Hant for traditional. China’s country codes are CN and CHN. In Chinese, the language is 中文 (Zhōngwén) or 汉语 (Hànyǔ), short 汉 (hàn).

Why do Chinese news say 中美 and 中日?

Countries shorten to one character when they are paired: 中 China, 美 America, 日 Japan, 英 Britain, 俄 Russia. So 中美关系 (Zhōng-Měi guānxì) is China–US relations and 中日 is China and Japan. 美 is short for 美国 (Měiguó), literally “beautiful country”, chosen for its sound.

What do yyds and xswl mean?

They are pinyin abbreviations used online, the first letters of each syllable: yyds is 永远的神 (yǒngyuǎn de shén), the GOAT, and xswl is 笑死我了 (xiào sǐ wǒ le), LOL. Our Chinese slang page decodes the rest.

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More short forms and slang

Abbreviations, full forms, pinyin and meanings from our own dictionary; language codes from ISO 639 and country codes from ISO 3166.