下午

Character by character

• 下xià3 strokesHSK 1under, underneath, below; down; inferior; bring down
• 午wǔ4 strokesHSK 1seventh earthly branch

Each character links to its stroke order page with a tracing and a writing exercise.

Example sentences

• 下午好。

  Xià wǔ hǎo

  Good afternoon.

  Listen

• 下午我不在家。

  Xià wǔ wǒ bù zài jiā

  I'll be absent from home in the afternoon.

  Listen

Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR), contributed by their community.

Words with the same characters

These words share at least one character with 下午. Reading them together is how the character starts to stick — the same characters in a different context.

• 下xiàHSK 1

  down; downwards; below; lower; later; next (week etc); second (of two parts); to decline; to go down; to arrive at (a decision, conclusion etc); measure word to show the frequency of an action

• 下来xià laiHSK 3

  to come down; (completed action marker); (after verb of motion, indicates motion down and towards us, also fig.); (indicates continuation from the past towards us); to be harvested (of crops); to be over (of a period of time); to go among the masses (said of leaders)

• 下去xià qùHSK 3

  to go down; to descend; to go on; to continue; (of a servant) to withdraw

• 停下tíng xiàHSK 4

  to stop

• 留下liú xiàHSK 2

  to leave behind; to stay behind; to remain; to keep; not to let (sb) go

• 下面xià miànHSK 3

  below; under; next; the following; also pr. [xià mian]

• 剩下shèng xiàHSK 5

  to remain; to be left over

• 以下yǐ xiàHSK 2

  that level or lower; that amount or less; the following

• 放下fàng xiàHSK 2

  to lay down; to put down; to let go of; to relinquish; to set aside; to lower (the blinds etc)

• 上午shàng wǔHSK 1

  morning

• 下次xià cìHSK 1

  next time

• 下降xià jiàngHSK 4

  to decline; to drop; to fall; to go down; to decrease

• 中午zhōng wǔHSK 1

  noon; midday

• 之下zhī xiàHSK 5

  under; beneath; less than

• 地下dì xiàHSK 4

  underground; subterranean; covert

• 接下来jiē xià láiHSK 2

  to accept; to take; next; following

• 下班xià bānHSK 1

  to finish work; to get off work

• 坐下zuò xiaHSK 1

  to sit down

• 天下tiān xiàHSK 6

  land under heaven; the whole world; the whole of China; realm; rule

• 楼下lóu xiàHSK 1

  downstairs

• 午餐wǔ cānHSK 2

  lunch; luncheon

• 一下子yī xià ziHSK 5

  in a short while; all at once; all of a sudden

• 下载xià zǎiHSK 4

  to download; also pr. [xià zài]

• 上下shàng xiàHSK 5

  up and down; top and bottom; old and young; length; about