电视
television; TV
diànshì
What does 电视 mean?
电视 (diànshì) is the Chinese word for 'television' — both the physical TV set and broadcast TV as a medium. Literally 'electric vision,' it follows the same naming pattern as 电话 (diànhuà, 'electric speech' = telephone) and 电脑 (diànnǎo, 'electric brain' = computer). Two things English speakers should note: first, 电视 by itself usually means watching TV or the TV set; to specify a program or a show you say 电视节目 (diànshì jiémù) or 电视剧 (diànshì jù, a TV drama series); second, the measure word changes meaning — 一台电视 is one TV set, 一个电视节目 is one TV program. The most common HSK 1 collocation is 看电视 (kàn diànshì, 'to watch TV'), parallel to 看书 'to read a book.'
Character breakdown
electricity
to look at; vision
Memory hook: Electricity (电) + sight (视) = television. Same logic as 电话 (electric speech = phone).
Measure word for 电视
Example sentences
我喜欢看电视。
Wǒ xǐhuan kàn diànshì.
I like watching TV.
neutral
晚上爸爸在家看电视。
Wǎnshang bàba zài jiā kàn diànshì.
In the evening, Dad watches TV at home.
spoken
这台电视很大。
Zhè tái diànshì hěn dà.
This TV is very big.
neutral
请你开电视，好吗？
Qǐng nǐ kāi diànshì, hǎo ma?
Please turn on the TV, okay?
polite
Common phrases with 电视
Hear it in real Fluentide episodes
电视 appears in 2 podcast episodes at natural native speed, with full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
Synonyms
电视机 specifies the physical TV set (the machine). 电视 covers both the device and the medium. When buying or moving the appliance, 电视机 is more precise.
Don't confuse 电视 with
电脑 is 'computer' (literally 'electric brain'). Same 电 prefix, different second character. Beginners often mix the two up because both are common HSK 1 electronics.
电影 is 'movie / film' (literally 'electric shadow'). 看电视 = watch TV at home; 看电影 = watch a movie, usually at a cinema.