有名
famous; well-known
HSK level
- Pinyin
- yǒumíng
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Level
- HSK 3
- Strokes
- 12
- Register
- neutral
- In episodes
- 2
Stroke order for 有名
有名 is written with 12 strokes (有: 6, 名: 6). The animation replays automatically.
What does 有名 mean?
有名 (yǒumíng) is the everyday Chinese adjective for 'famous' or 'well-known' — literally 'has + name.'
It applies broadly: famous people, famous restaurants, famous places, famous brands. The standard pattern is 很有名 ('very famous') or X在Y很有名 ('X is famous in Y'): 这家饭店在北京很有名 ('this restaurant is famous in Beijing'). Two things English speakers should know: first, 有名 is structurally a verb-object compound (有 + 名 = 'has a name'), so to negate it you say 不太有名 ('not very famous') or 没什么名 in idiomatic speech, not 不有名 — the latter sounds wrong.
Second, the more formal/written equivalent is 著名 (zhùmíng), which is used in news, biographies, and titles: 著名作家 ('famous writer'). In conversation, 有名 is what people actually say.
Character by character
Memory hook: 'Has a name' — when everyone knows your name, you're famous.
Hear 有名 in real episodes
有名 appears in 2 Fluentide podcast episodes 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.
有一个很有名的车，叫沃尔沃。
There is a very famous car called Volvo.
The Man Who Bought Volvo Just Handed His Carmaker to Someone Who Is Not Family
他的电影很有名。
His films are very famous.
A Museum Wouldn't Show George Lucas the Painting He Asked For, So He Spent Fifteen Years and a Billion Dollars Building His Own
Example sentences
他是个很有名的歌手。
Tā shì ge hěn yǒumíng de gēshǒu.
He's a very famous singer.
neutral
这家饭店在北京很有名。
Zhè jiā fàndiàn zài Běijīng hěn yǒumíng.
This restaurant is very famous in Beijing.
spoken
北京烤鸭世界有名。
Běijīng kǎoyā shìjiè yǒumíng.
Peking duck is world-famous.
neutral
这个地方不太有名，但是很漂亮。
Zhège dìfang bú tài yǒumíng, dànshì hěn piàoliang.
This place isn't very famous, but it's beautiful.
spoken
你听说过这个有名的故事吗？
Nǐ tīngshuō guo zhège yǒumíng de gùshi ma?
Have you heard this famous story?
neutral
Common phrases with 有名
Synonyms
Formal/written equivalent. 著名作家 ('famous writer') appears in news and biographies. 有名 is what you say in conversation. Same meaning, different register.
出名 ('to become famous') is the verbal form — the process of getting known. 他最近出名了 ('he became famous recently'). 有名 is the state of being famous.
Don't confuse 有名 with
FAQ
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
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