迟到
to be late; to arrive late
HSK level
- Pinyin
- chídào
- Part of speech
- verb
- Level
- HSK 3
- Strokes
- 15
- Register
- neutral
Stroke order for 迟到
迟到 is written with 15 strokes (迟: 7, 到: 8). The animation replays automatically.
What does 迟到 mean?
迟到 (chídào) means 'to arrive late' — typically to school, work, a meeting, or any scheduled event.
It is a 'verb-result' compound: 迟 means 'late / delayed' and 到 means 'to arrive,' so literally 'to arrive late.' Two important things for English speakers: first, 迟到 describes the act of arriving late, not the state of being delayed in general — for a flight that is delayed, Chinese uses 晚点 (wǎndiǎn) or 延误 (yánwù), not 迟到.
Second, because 迟到 already contains the result 到 ('arrive'), you usually don't add 了 inside the word; instead you put 了 at the end: 我迟到了 ('I was late'), not 我迟了到. You can quantify how late by adding a time: 迟到十分钟 ('ten minutes late').
Character by character
Memory hook: 迟 (late) + 到 (arrive) = to arrive late. The components literally spell out the meaning.
Example sentences
对不起，我迟到了。
Duìbuqǐ, wǒ chídào le.
Sorry, I'm late.
spoken
他今天上班迟到了二十分钟。
Tā jīntiān shàngbān chídào le èrshí fēnzhōng.
He was twenty minutes late for work today.
neutral
请你不要迟到。
Qǐng nǐ búyào chídào.
Please don't be late.
neutral
因为下雨，很多学生迟到了。
Yīnwèi xià yǔ, hěn duō xuésheng chídào le.
Because it was raining, many students were late.
neutral
Common phrases with 迟到
Synonyms
晚到 ('arrive late') is more literal and descriptive, often used when explaining why — 我晚到了一会儿. 迟到 is the standard word with a faintly negative tone — it implies you broke a schedule.
晚点 specifically means a vehicle (train, flight, bus) is delayed: 飞机晚点了. People can't 晚点; they 迟到.
Don't confuse 迟到 with
晚 means 'late' as an adverb or adjective (今天我回家很晚 'I got home very late today'). 迟到 specifically means 'to arrive late' at a scheduled event.
迟 alone means 'late / slow / delayed' as an adjective and is mostly used in compounds (迟早 sooner or later). For the action of being late, use 迟到.
FAQ
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