number; digit; figure
HSK level
数字 (shùzì) is a noun meaning a written number, digit, or numerical figure — the symbol or value itself, as in a phone number, a statistic, or a page number.
It is neutral in register and appears constantly in daily life, finance, and news. The key distinction for English speakers is that 数字 refers to numbers as written symbols or data points, not to the abstract mathematical concept (that is 数 shù) and not to a specific quantity being counted. So a report full of statistics is 一堆数字 (a pile of figures), and going digital is 数字化.
English lumps 'number' into one word; Chinese splits the symbolic figure (数字) from the counting word (数量, shùliàng, quantity/amount) and the pure math object (数). 数字 has also become the standard translation for 'digital' in tech compounds like 数字电视 (digital TV).
Character by character
Memory hook: A 'number-character' — the written symbol of a number.
数字 appears in 5 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
请把这些数字写在纸上。
Qǐng bǎ zhèxiē shùzì xiě zài zhǐ shàng.
Please write these numbers on the paper.
neutral
这个数字太大了，我记不住。
Zhège shùzì tài dà le, wǒ jì bú zhù.
This number is too big, I can't remember it.
spoken
报告里的数字都是真的吗？
Bàogào lǐ de shùzì dōu shì zhēn de ma?
Are all the figures in the report real?
neutral
现在很多服务都实现了数字化。
Xiànzài hěn duō fúwù dōu shíxiàn le shùzìhuà.
Many services have now gone digital.
written
数字 is written with 19 strokes (数: 13, 字: 6). Tap replay to watch each character drawn again.
数 is the abstract number or count itself; 数字 is the written digit or figure. Use 数 in math ('add up the numbers' 把这些数加起来); use 数字 when you mean the printed symbols or reported statistics.
数量 means 'quantity / amount' — how many there are. 数字 is the digit or figure. 'The quantity is large' is 数量很大, not 数字很大 unless you mean the printed figure looks big.
Same two characters reversed. 字数 means 'word count / number of characters' in a text. 数字 means 'number / digit.'
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