寒假
winter vacation
HSK level
- Pinyin
- hánjià
- Part of speech
- noun
- Level
- HSK 4
- Strokes
- 23
- Register
- neutral
- Measure word
- 个
Stroke order for 寒假
寒假 is written with 23 strokes (寒: 12, 假: 11). The animation replays automatically.
What does 寒假 mean?
寒假 (hánjià) is a noun meaning the winter school holiday — the break between the autumn and spring semesters, literally 'cold vacation.'
It is specifically an academic term: students and teachers have a 寒假, and it centers on Chinese New Year (春节), so in mainland China it typically runs about a month across January and February. Two things matter for English speakers. First, 寒假 is not a general 'winter break' from work — office workers don't get a 寒假; that word belongs to schools. Second, the 假 here is read jià (fourth tone, 'holiday/leave'), not jiǎ (third tone, 'fake'), even though it's the same character.
Its paired opposite is 暑假 (shǔjià), the summer vacation. Register is neutral and everyday. Compare 假期 (jiàqī), the general word for any holiday period, of which 寒假 is one specific instance.
Character by character
Memory hook: 寒 (cold) + 假 (holiday) — the cold-season holiday: winter vacation.
Example sentences
寒假你打算做什么？
Hánjià nǐ dǎsuàn zuò shénme?
What do you plan to do over winter break?
spoken
学校下周就放寒假了。
Xuéxiào xià zhōu jiù fàng hánjià le.
School starts winter vacation next week.
spoken
我打算利用寒假回老家看看。
Wǒ dǎsuàn lìyòng hánjià huí lǎojiā kànkan.
I plan to use the winter break to visit my hometown.
neutral
老师给我们布置了很多寒假作业。
Lǎoshī gěi wǒmen bùzhì le hěn duō hánjià zuòyè.
The teacher assigned us a lot of winter vacation homework.
neutral
Common phrases with 寒假
Don't confuse 寒假 with
暑假 is the summer vacation (暑 = hot season), the longer break in July–August. 寒假 is the winter one around Chinese New Year. They are the two academic vacations; keep 寒 (cold) and 暑 (hot) straight.
假期 is the general word for any holiday or vacation period (weekends, national holidays, any break). 寒假 is one specific type — the school winter break.
FAQ
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