chopsticks
HSK level
筷子 is written with 16 strokes (筷: 13, 子: 3). The animation replays automatically.
筷子 (kuàizi) is the Chinese word for chopsticks — the pair of slender sticks used as the primary eating utensil across China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.
The default measure word is 双 (shuāng, 'pair'), because chopsticks come and work in twos: 一双筷子 means 'one pair of chopsticks.' Use 根 (gēn) only when talking about a single stick. The bamboo radical 竹 on top of 筷 tells you the original material; the lower component 快 (kuài, 'fast') is partly phonetic and partly a folk pun — at meals you say 'eat fast.'
Cultural note: never stick chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice — it resembles incense at a funeral and is considered very rude. Common verbs: 用筷子 (use chopsticks), 拿筷子 (pick up/hold chopsticks).
Character by character
Memory hook: 竹 on top means bamboo (what chopsticks were originally made of); 快 below sounds like the word — 'fast bamboo sticks.'
你会用筷子吗？
Nǐ huì yòng kuàizi ma?
Do you know how to use chopsticks?
spoken
请给我一双筷子。
Qǐng gěi wǒ yì shuāng kuàizi.
Please give me a pair of chopsticks.
polite
我用筷子吃面条。
Wǒ yòng kuàizi chī miàntiáo.
I eat noodles with chopsticks.
neutral
这双筷子太长了。
Zhè shuāng kuàizi tài cháng le.
These chopsticks are too long.
spoken
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