
The Ultimate Chinese Vocabulary Guide: 80 Lists to Build Your Word Bank
One of the best ways to work on your fluency in Chinese is to build your vocabulary. The more solid a foundation you have with your vocabulary, the better you will be able to understand and navigate conversations.
This post will take you through 80 of the best Chinese vocabulary lists to help you build that core vocabulary in everything from greetings to slang to business lingo and even more!
Contents
- Common Words and Phrases
- Business
- Chinese Slang
- Food and Drink
- Idioms and Proverbs
- Shopping
- Holidays
- Travel
- Love
- Miscellaneous Vocabulary
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 Words and Phrases
These lists contain some of the most important vocabulary that you should know since you will use it in almost any Chinese conversation.
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/chinese/chinese-weather-words/
Business
Now that you have a good base, we can start getting a bit more specific.
Chinese can be extremely useful in the business world, so here are some great business vocabulary lists that will help you sound more professional!
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/chinese/business-chinese-vocab-word-list-job-titles-positions/
Chinese Slang
Now if you really want to start sounding fluent, it’s best if you learn how to talk like a native.
While a lot goes into achieving that skill, one of the best ways to work on it is to learn the common slang that Chinese speakers use. Here are some lists to help you with that:
Food and Drink
Eating and drinking is a great social activity and also a huge part of Chinese culture, so it’s best that you know some words to use at the table.
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/chinese/chinese-food-vocabulary-word-list-dimsum/
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/chinese/chinese-food-vocabulary-word-list-shanghai-cuisine/
Idioms and Proverbs
Similar to slang, knowing Chinese idioms will not only help you sound more fluent, but will also help you understand more if you hear them from someone else!
Shopping
Even if you’re not a big casual shopper, you will definitely end up at a grocery store or convenience store, so it’s best that you know some things to help you communicate with the cashier!
Holidays
Holidays are always great fun to celebrate, but you don’t want to miss out due to not understanding the vocabulary surrounding the festivities!
Here are some of the most important holiday vocabulary lists so that you can always join the fun!
Travel
Odds are that you will get the most use of your Chinese while you are traveling, so it’s necessary to know some travel lingo to avoid any confusion!
Love
So you found a Chinese-speaking cutie but don’t know how to let them know your feelings?
Not to fear, here is some of the most important vocabulary to use for your flirty interactions.
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/chinese/i-love-you-in-mandarin/
Miscellaneous Vocabulary
These may not necessarily fall into a particular category, but are still super useful to know. You can never know too many words!
There you go — now you have several vocabulary lists that provide you with hundreds of words practice. Better 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)