---
title: "Chinese Abbreviations (缩写): How They Work, 北大 to 春晚, and Every Province’s One-Character Name"
description: "77 Chinese abbreviations with their full forms: 北大, 高考, 环保 and 春晚, countries in one character (中美, 中日), the province short names on car plates (京, 沪, 粤, 川), and the language codes zh and cmn, each with pinyin, meaning and sound."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-abbreviations"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

Free · 77 abbreviations

# Chinese abbreviations

[Print as flashcards](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-flashcards?level=mine&words=%E7%BC%A9%E5%86%99%20%E7%AE%80%E7%A7%B0%20%E7%BC%A9%E7%95%A5%E8%AF%AD%20%E8%B6%85%E5%B8%82%20%E9%AB%98%E8%80%83%20%E7%8E%AF%E4%BF%9D%20%E5%A4%96%E8%B4%B8%20%E5%A4%96%E4%BC%81%20%E5%9B%BD%E4%BC%81%20%E5%8C%BB%E4%BF%9D%20%E7%A4%BE%E4%BF%9D%20%E5%85%AC%E7%A7%AF%E9%87%91%20%E4%BA%A4%E8%AD%A6%20%E7%A7%91%E7%A0%94%20%E9%AB%98%E9%80%9F%20%E5%8C%96%E5%B7%A5%20%E5%85%AC%E4%BA%A4%20%E5%8C%97%E5%A4%A7%20%E6%B8%85%E5%8D%8E%20%E5%A4%8D%E6%97%A6%20%E5%8C%97%E5%B8%88%E5%A4%A7%20%E4%B8%AD%E7%A7%91%E9%99%A2%20%E5%A4%AE%E8%A7%86%20%E6%98%A5%E6%99%9A%20%E5%A5%A5%E8%BF%90%20%E4%B8%96%E5%8D%9A%E4%BC%9A%20%E6%AC%A7%E7%9B%9F%20%E4%B8%96%E5%8D%AB%20%E4%BA%BA%E5%A4%A7%20%E6%94%BF%E5%8D%8F%20%E4%B8%AD%20%E7%BE%8E%20%E8%8B%B1%20%E6%97%A5%20%E6%B3%95%20%E5%BE%B7%20%E9%9F%A9%20%E4%BF%84%20%E6%AC%A7%20%E4%BA%9A%20%E6%B1%89%20%E4%BA%AC%20%E6%B2%AA%20%E6%B4%A5%20%E6%B8%9D%20%E5%86%80%20%E6%99%8B%20%E8%BE%BD%20%E5%90%89%20%E9%BB%91%20%E8%8B%8F%20%E6%B5%99%20%E7%9A%96%20%E9%97%BD%20%E8%B5%A3%20%E9%B2%81%20%E8%B1%AB%20%E9%84%82%20%E6%B9%98%20%E7%B2%A4%20%E7%90%BC%20%E5%B7%9D%20%E9%BB%94%20%E6%BB%87%20%E9%99%95%20%E7%94%98%20%E9%9D%92%20%E6%A1%82%20%E8%97%8F%20%E5%AE%81%20%E6%B8%AF%20%E6%BE%B3%20%E5%8F%B0%20%E7%AF%AE%20%E8%B6%B3%20%E6%BC%AB%20%E5%8D%9A)

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## How Chinese abbreviations are made

| | Full form | Short form | How |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 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

suō缩xiě写

abbreviation; acronym

jiǎn简chēng称

abbreviation; short form

suō缩lüè略yǔ语

abbreviation; acronym

## Everyday short words

chāo超shì市

supermarket (short for 超级市场)

gāo高kǎo考

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

huán环bǎo保

environmental protection (short for 环境保护)

wài外mào贸

foreign trade (short for 对外贸易)

wài外qǐ企

foreign company (short for 外资企业)

guó国qǐ企

state-owned enterprise (short for 国有企业)

yī医bǎo保

medical insurance (short for 医疗保险)

shè社bǎo保

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

gōng公jī积jīn金

housing provident fund (short for 住房公积金)

jiāo交jǐng警

traffic police (short for 交通警察)

kē科yán研

scientific research (short for 科学研究)

gāo高sù速

expressway; highway (short for 高速公路)

huà化gōng工

chemical industry (short for 化学工业)

gōng公jiāo交

bus (short for 公交车)

## Schools, media and big events

běi北dà大

Peking University (short for 北京大学)

qīng清huá华

Tsinghua University (short for 清华大学)

fù复dàn旦

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

běi北shī师dà大

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

zhōng中kē科yuàn院

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

yāng央shì视

CCTV (short for 中央电视台)

chūn春wǎn晚

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

ào奥yùn运

Olympics (short for 奥林匹克运动会)

shì世bó博huì会

World Expo (short for 世界博览会)

ōu欧méng盟

EU; European Union (short for 欧洲联盟)

shì世wèi卫

WHO (short for 世界卫生组织)

rén人dà大

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

zhèng政xié协

CPPCC (short for 中国人民政治协商会议)

## Countries in one character

zhōng中

China; Chinese (short form)

měi美

America; American (short form)

yīng英

Britain; English (short for 英国, 英语)

rì日

Japan; Japanese (short form)

fǎ法

France; French (short form)

dé德

Germany (short for 德国)

hán韩

South Korea; Korea (short for 韩国)

é俄

Russia (short for 俄罗斯)

ōu欧

Europe (short for 欧洲)

yà亚

Asia (short for 亚洲)

hàn汉

Chinese language (short for 汉语)

## Province short names

jīng京

Beijing (short for 北京)

hù沪

Shanghai (short for 上海)

jīn津

Tianjin (short for 天津)

yú渝

Chongqing (short for 重庆)

jì冀

Hebei (short for 河北)

jìn晋

Shanxi (short for 山西)

liáo辽

Liaoning (short for 辽宁)

jí吉

Jilin (short for 吉林)

hēi黑

Heilongjiang (short for 黑龙江)

sū苏

Jiangsu or Suzhou (short for 江苏, 苏州)

zhè浙

Zhejiang (short for 浙江)

wǎn皖

Anhui (abbreviation for the province)

mǐn闽

Fujian (short for 福建)

gàn赣

Jiangxi (short for 江西)

lǔ鲁

Shandong (short for 山东)

yù豫

Henan (short for 河南)

è鄂

Hubei (short for 湖北)

xiāng湘

Hunan (short for 湖南)

yuè粤

Guangdong (short for the province)

qióng琼

Hainan (short for 海南)

chuān川

Sichuan (short for 四川)

qián黔

Guizhou (short for the province)

diān滇

Yunnan (short for 云南)

shǎn陕

Shaanxi (short for the province)

gān甘

Gansu (short for 甘肃)

qīng青

Qinghai (short for 青海)

guì桂

Guangxi (short for 广西)

zàng藏

Tibet; Tibetan (short for 西藏)

níng宁

Ningxia (short for 宁夏)

gǎng港

Hong Kong (short for 香港)

ào澳

Macao (short for 澳门)

tái台

Taiwan (short form)

## One character for a word

lán篮

basketball (short for 篮球)

zú足

football (short for 足球)

màn漫

comics; manga (short for 漫画)

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.

## Can’t hear it?

Play uses your device’s Mandarin voice. Edge, Chrome and Safari have one; a browser with none plays each character in our recorded voice instead.

## More short forms and slang

- [Chinese internet slang and letter codes](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-slang)
- [Chinese provinces and cities](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-provinces)
- [Countries in Chinese](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-countries)
- [Chinese number codes like 520](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-numbers)

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