兴趣
interest
HSK level
- Pinyin
- xìngqù
- Part of speech
- noun
- Level
- HSK 3
- Strokes
- 21
- Register
- neutral
- Measure word
- 个 / 种
- In episodes
- 1
Stroke order for 兴趣
兴趣 is written with 21 strokes (兴: 6, 趣: 15). The animation replays automatically.
What does 兴趣 mean?
兴趣 (xìngqù) is the Chinese noun for 'interest' in the sense of a personal attraction to a topic, activity, or hobby — what makes you want to spend time on something.
It is almost always used with a fixed pattern: 对 X 有兴趣 / 感兴趣 / 没兴趣 ('to be interested / not interested in X'). Two things English speakers often miss. First, unlike English 'interest', 兴趣 does NOT mean money interest (that is 利息 lìxī) or a business stake (股份 gǔfèn) — it is purely about curiosity or liking.
Second, 兴趣 is a noun, not a verb; to say 'I'm interested', you say 我对…有兴趣 or 我对…感兴趣, never just 我兴趣. The related adjective is 有意思 ('interesting' as a property of the thing).
Character by character
Memory hook: 兴 (mood / spirit) + 趣 (fun) = the spirit-fun a topic gives you.
Hear 兴趣 in real episodes
兴趣 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
可是，男人打完仗回来以后，大家对女人打棒球，越来越没有兴趣了。
But after the men came home from the war, people became less and less interested in women playing baseball.
The Real 'League of Their Own' Players Are in Their 90s — and Girls' Baseball Is Finally Booming
Example sentences
我对中文很有兴趣。
Wǒ duì Zhōngwén hěn yǒu xìngqù.
I'm very interested in Chinese.
neutral
他对足球没有兴趣。
Tā duì zúqiú méiyǒu xìngqù.
He has no interest in football.
spoken
你的兴趣是什么？
Nǐ de xìngqù shì shénme?
What are your interests?
spoken
学习中文是我最大的兴趣。
Xuéxí Zhōngwén shì wǒ zuì dà de xìngqù.
Studying Chinese is my biggest interest.
neutral
孩子应该有自己的兴趣爱好。
Háizi yīnggāi yǒu zìjǐ de xìngqù àihào.
Children should have their own interests and hobbies.
written
Common phrases with 兴趣
Synonyms
爱好 is a 'hobby' — a regular activity you do because you like it (chess, photography). 兴趣 is the underlying 'interest / curiosity' that you may or may not act on. 我的爱好是画画 (my hobby is painting) vs 我对画画有兴趣 (I'm interested in painting).
趣味 is more written/literary, meaning 'taste, flavour, fun-ness' of something itself. 兴趣 is the person's interest IN something. A book has 趣味; a reader has 兴趣.
Don't confuse 兴趣 with
利息 is bank/financial interest — money paid on a loan or deposit. 兴趣 is the curiosity / liking sense. The bank pays 利息, not 兴趣.
FAQ
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 兴趣 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
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