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HSK 3

嘴

mouth; beak; spout

nounneutral
嘴
zuǐ3rd tone

HSK level

1
2
3
4
5
6
Pinyin
zuǐ
Part of speech
noun
Level
HSK 3
Strokes
16
Register
neutral
Measure word
张 / 个

Stroke order for 嘴

嘴 is written with 16 strokes. The animation replays automatically.

What does 嘴 mean?

嘴 (zuǐ) is the noun for 'mouth' on a person or animal, and by extension the spout-like opening on objects (茶壶嘴 teapot spout, 瓶嘴 bottle neck).

It is the everyday body-part word that natives reach for when talking about eating, kissing, talking, or pouting. Two contrasts with English help: first, Chinese distinguishes 嘴 (the physical mouth, lips and all) from 口 (kǒu, the mouth as an opening, used in formal, medical, and idiomatic contexts like 人口 population or 口语 spoken language) — English collapses both into 'mouth.'

Second, 嘴 often carries personality: 嘴甜 'sweet-mouthed' means good with flattering words, 嘴硬 'hard-mouthed' means stubborn in argument. The word is concrete and warm; 口 is abstract and formal.

Note: 嘴 is the everyday word for mouth on a person or animal. In medical or anatomical contexts, 口 (kǒu) is preferred (e.g. 口腔 oral cavity); in poetry or formal description, 口 also wins. 嘴 carries warmth and physicality — kissing, eating, talking, pouting all use 嘴.

Example sentences

他的嘴很甜，谁都喜欢他。

Tā de zuǐ hěn tián, shéi dōu xǐhuan tā.

He's a smooth talker — everyone likes him.

spoken

请张开嘴，让医生看看。

Qǐng zhāngkāi zuǐ, ràng yīshēng kànkan.

Please open your mouth and let the doctor take a look.

neutral

你别说了，闭嘴！

Nǐ bié shuō le, bì zuǐ!

Stop talking — shut up!

spoken, rude

小孩子的嘴巴上还有米饭。

Xiǎo háizi de zuǐba shàng hái yǒu mǐfàn.

There's still rice on the little kid's mouth.

spoken

这个茶壶嘴有点儿小。

Zhège cháhú zuǐ yǒudiǎnr xiǎo.

The spout on this teapot is a little small.

neutral

Common phrases with 嘴

张嘴zhāng zuǐopen one's mouth
闭嘴bì zuǐshut up; close one's mouth
嘴甜zuǐ tiánsweet-talking; good with words
嘴巴zuǐ bamouth (the most common spoken form, with neutral suffix)
亲嘴qīn zuǐkiss on the mouth

Synonyms

嘴巴zuǐ ba

嘴巴 is the disyllabic, more colloquial form — what kids and adults both say in conversation. 嘴 alone is fine in compounds and writing; in casual speech, 嘴巴 sounds more natural.

口kǒu

口 is formal, medical, or used as a metaphor for openings and people (人口 population, 出口 exit). For the physical mouth on a face, use 嘴. 口腔 is medical; 嘴巴 is everyday.

Don't confuse 嘴 with

咀jǔ

咀 means 'to chew' and appears in 咀嚼 (jǔjué, to chew). It looks like 嘴 but the right side is 且 not 觜, and the meaning is the action, not the body part.

口kǒu

口 is the abstract 'mouth/opening' used in formal vocabulary (人口, 出口, 口语). 嘴 is the concrete physical mouth. A learner who writes 嘴语 instead of 口语 has mixed them up.

FAQ

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