By Alan Park Last updated: May 13, 2023

Chinese Vocabulary Guide: 212 Essential Words and 64 Resources

One of the best ways to work on your fluency in Chinese is to build your vocabulary.

The more solid a foundation you have, the better you will be able to understand and navigate conversations.

This post will take you through 212 of the most common Chinese vocabulary words, plus links to 64 posts with additional terms and information—that’s a lot of learning!

So, read on to build your core Mandarin vocabulary from common phrases and numbers to medical terms and beyond.

Contents

• Common Phrases
• Food & Drinks
• Clothes & Shopping
• Colors
• Animals
• Numbers
• Days & Months
• Seasons, Weather & Holidays
• Family, Friends & Relationships
• Feelings
• Hobbies
• Body Parts & Medical Terms
• Business & Jobs
• Other Vocabulary in Chinese

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Common Phrases

These are the words and phrases you’d need most on a day-to-day basis in a Chinese-speaking region:

*The Mandarin word for “no” depends on context; you can learn more here.

You can also learn:

• more everyday phrases
• how to ask for directions
• polite ways to say thank you
• more phrases to say sorry
• ways to say excuse me
• helpful phrases for travel

Food & Drinks

China is a place well known for its cuisine. Here are the most common words for basic foods in Chinese:

See this post for more specific food vocabulary, and this post for vegetables and vegetable dishes. You can also learn how to order food in Chinese and discover useful restaurant phrases.

What’s a meal without a beverage? Below are common drinks and related terms in Mandarin:

Here’s a full list of drinks in Chinese, as well as how to order coffee and all about alcohol.

Clothes & Shopping

If you’re spending time in China, you may be interested in checking out the fashion. Here are some helpful terms:

Here’s our complete guide to clothing in Chinese.

And if you’re looking to purchase clothes or other items, these terms will help you out:

You can also check out more useful phrases for shopping, learn more about money in Chinese and learn the Chinese names of popular brands.

Colors

Knowing colors in Mandarin can help you discuss clothes, food, drinks and so much more.

Check out our full list of colors in Chinese here.

Animals

Below are the Chinese terms for the most common animals:

See this post for more animals in Mandarin, plus their cultural significance. You can also take it a step further by learning some animal sounds in Chinese!

Numbers

Learning how to count is a vital skill in any language. Here’s zero through ten, plus a few other helpful numbers:

*There are two ways to say “two” in Chinese; learn more in our complete number guide.

You can also learn how to tell time and how to do basic math in Chinese.

Days & Months

You’ll also want to know how to discuss dates in Chinese, especially if you’re traveling.

See this post for more about the days of the week in Mandarin.

And here are the months:

You can also check out our full post on the months in Chinese (plus the lunar calendar).

Seasons, Weather & Holidays

Discussing the weather is also considered small talk in Mandarin! Here’s important vocabulary for doing just that:

Follow these links for our full posts about the seasons and the weather.

Additionally, many Chinese holidays relate to the time of year. These are some of the most popular holidays in China:

*You can sub another holiday in place of “New Year.”

Learn more about the holidays and related phrases by checking out these posts on:

• Chinese New Year
• Valentine’s Day
• Tomb Sweeping Festival
• Ghost Month
• Chinese Father’s Day
• Mid-Autumn Festival
• Christmas

Family, Friends & Relationships

To talk about your family, friends, romantic partner, classmates or colleagues, you’ll need these vocabulary terms:

Check out these links for how to introduce your family and friends and useful phrases for hanging out.

You can also discover Mandarin phrases for “happy birthday,” “good luck” and “congratulations” to say to these important people in your life.

Feelings

It’s important to be able to express yourself in the language you’re using, even at a basic level. Here’s what to say in Chinese:

For more emotions in Mandarin, see this post.

You may also be interested in how to flirt in Chinese, how to say “I love you” and Chinese terms of endearment. 

Hobbies

If you find yourself in conversation with some native Chinese speakers, discussing hobbies is a great way to get to know each other.

Check out this post for more hobbies in Chinese, and this one if you’re into soccer.

Body Parts & Medical Terms

Here are common body parts in Mandarin:

See our complete list here.

If you get hurt while in China, you can explain where the pain is using the above vocabulary, or discuss your symptoms with these medical terms:

See more in our full guide to Chinese medical terms.

Business & Jobs

To learn business Chinese, you can start with these common vocabulary words:

You can also learn:

• more Chinese job titles
• famous companies in Mandarin
• other essential business vocabulary
• how to write emails in Chinese
• cultural etiquette for business

Other Vocabulary in Chinese

Additional common vocabulary in Chinese requires some in-depth explanations. Follow these links to learn about Chinese measure words, idioms, slang and more!

There you go—now you have a ton of basic Chinese vocabulary plus lots of resources for learning even more.

Time to start memorizing!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)