Adjectives are the color in your Mandarin sentences – without them, everything’s just ‘good’ or ‘not good’. That gets old fast. This list gathers around 1,000 of the most common Chinese adjectives you’ll actually use, from 大 to 漂亮, so you can describe people, food, places, and moods with precision.
Every entry pairs a clear meaning with a natural example sentence, so you see exactly how the adjective behaves in real Chinese – not a lifeless translation. There’s audio playback right in the table, because your ears need practice just as much as your eyes.
Ready to give your Chinese vocab a little extra sparkle? Scroll to the bottom of this article to find the free downloadable printable Most Common Chinese Adjectives flashcards and the free printable Most Common Chinese Adjectives vocabulary list PDF, both made to help you review with less stress and a lot more confidence.
Want more than one list? Browse our Chinese section for more Yak Yacker study pages, printable lists, and quiz-friendly review material.
Quick Quiz
Think you can match an adjective to its meaning in a flash? Give the quick quiz below a go – no pressure, just a friendly check.
Browse the Full List
| Grammar Word | Pinyin | Function | Meaning | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 投机 | tóujī | Other | to speculate (on financial markets)/opportunistic/congenial/agreeable | |
| 抱歉 | bàoqiàn | Other | to be sorry/to feel apologetic/sorry! | |
| 抽象 | chōuxiàng | Other | abstract/abstraction/CL:種|种[zhong3] | |
| 拥挤 | yǒngjǐ | Other | crowded/to throng/congestion | |
| 拼命 | pīnmìng | Other | to do one's utmost | |
| 拿 ná | to take, to hold | Other | 请拿一下包。Qǐng ná yíxià bāo. | |
| 拿手 | náshǒu | Other | expert in/good at | |
| 持久 | chíjiǔ | Other | lasting/enduring/persistent/permanent/protracted/endurance/persistence/to last long | |
| 持平 | chípíng | Other | to stay level (of exchange rate, market share etc)/fair/unbiased | |
| 挤 | jǐ | Other | to crowd in/to cram in/to force others aside/to press/to squeeze/to find (time in one's busy schedule) | |
| 挺 | tǐng | Other | straight/erect/to stick out (a part of the body)/to (physically) straighten up/to support/to withstand/outstanding/(coll.) quite/very/classifier for machine gun | |
| 接近 | jiējìn | Other | to approach | |
| 操心 | cāoxīn | Other | to worry about | |
| 放松 | fàngsōng | Other | to relax | |
| 放荡 | fàngdàng | Other | licentious/wanton/morally unrestrained | |
| 故意 | gùyì | Other | deliberately | |
| 敏感 | mǐngǎn | Other | sensitive/susceptible | |
| 敏捷 | mǐnjié | Other | nimble/quick/shrewd | |
| 教 jiāo | to teach | Other | 王老师教我们语法。Wáng lǎoshī jiāo wǒmen yǔfǎ. | |
| 整 | zhěng | Other | exactly/in good order/whole/complete/entire/in order/orderly/to repair/to mend/to renovate/(coll.) to fix sb/to give sb a hard time/to mess with sb | |
| 整洁 | zhěngjié | Other | neatly/tidy | |
| 整齐 | zhěngqí | Other | orderly/neat/even/tidy | |
| 斜 | xié | Other | inclined/slanting/oblique/tilting | |
| 斯文 | sīwén | Other | refined/educate/cultured/intellectual/polite/gentle | |
| 新 | xīn | Other | new/newly/meso- (chemistry) |
Free Most Common Chinese Adjectives PDF and Flashcards to Download
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