Chinese Maths Vocabulary

If you’ve learned how to count in Chinese, you may want to learn some  common maths terminology. In this post I will go through some maths basics, such as how to say plus, minus, equals, and may other terms.

Chinese write maths as we do in English, that is with numerals and maths symbols. For example 1+1 = 2 and 4÷5 carry the same meaning in Chinese and English – after all maths is he universal language.

There are two situations where knowing the Chinese characters and pronunciation for maths is useful. Firstly as you know how to write numbers and maths symbols as words in English, you should know how to write the same numbers and maths symbols as words in Chinese. As an example, the maths equation 1+1=2 can be written in English words as “one plus one equals two”. In Chinese the same 1+1=2 maths problem would be written in Chinese words as 一yī加jiā一yī等děng于yú二èr. Keep in mind that it would be as unusual in Chinese to write a maths problem with Chinese characters as it is for an English speak to write out a maths problem in words such as “one plus one equals two”.

Secondly, if you want to speak a maths problem out loud you need to know how it is pronounced, as you can hardly read it in English. Using the 1+1=2 example, this is written as 一yī加jiā一yī等děng于yú二èr and pronounced as “yī jiā yī děngyú èr”. Thus when you see the equation 1+1=2, you would read this out loud as “yī jiā yī děngyú èr”; broken down is one (yī) plus (jiā) one (yī) equals (děngyú) two (èr).

So to recap:

• Chinese uses the same numerals and maths symbols as English
• You need to know the Chinese pronunciation for numbers and maths symbols if you are going to read them out loud
• It is unlikely but still useful to know how to write maths in words

If you haven’t yet learned numbers, please check out my post on how to count in Chinese.

Chinese Pronunciation of Maths Symbols

Below is a table showing common maths symbols and how they are pronounced in Chinese:

Symbol	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
+	加jiā	jiā
–	减jiǎn	jiǎn
÷	除chú以yǐ	chú yǐ
x	乘chéng	chéng
=	等děng于yú	děngyú

Below are examples of simple maths calculations to illustrate how the above symbols are used. I have shows the maths with mixed numbers and Chinese characters to make it clearer which character corresponds to which mathematical symbol.

Numerals	Mixed Chinese and Numerals	Chinese	Pinyin Pronunciation
1+1=2	11ssttrroonngg>>加jiā//ssttrroonngg>>11等děng于yú22	一yīssttrroonngg>>加jiā//ssttrroonngg>>一yī等děng于yú二èr	yī jiā yī děngyú èr
3–1=2	33ssttrroonngg>>减jiǎn//ssttrroonngg>>11等děng于yú22	三sānssttrroonngg>>减jiǎn//ssttrroonngg>>一yī等děng于yú二èr	sān jiǎn yī děngyú èr
8÷2=4	88ssttrroonngg>>除chú以yǐ//ssttrroonngg>>22等děng于yú44	八bāssttrroonngg>>除chú以yǐ//ssttrroonngg>>二èr等děng于yú四sì	bā chú yǐ èr děngyú sì
2x3=6	ssttrroonngg>>22乘chéng//ssttrroonngg>>33等děng于yú66	两liǎngssttrroonngg>>乘chéng//ssttrroonngg>>三sān等děng于yú六liù	liǎng chéng sān děngyú liù

How to say fractions in Chinese

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In Chinese the word for fraction is 分fēn之zhī, which is pronounced as “fēn zhī “. To write a fraction in Chinese you simply use the 分fēn之zhī character and write the fraction in reverse. For example 2/3 becomes 33分fēn之zhī22 and 1/5 becomes 55分fēn之zhī11. Note that I am mixing words and numbers here for clarity, in reality if you are using numerals and symbols, you don’t need to use the Chinese words for maths, so as previously described, 1/3 carries the same meaning in English and Chinese.

To explain 分fēn之zhī and the numerator after; if that doesn’t make sense to you don’t worry, just remember that you write the fraction in the reverse of English.

The table below demonstrates the use of 分fēn之zhī:

Fraction	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
1/2	一yī半bàn	yībàn
1/3	三sān分fēn之zhī一yī	sān fēn zhī yī
2/3	三sān分fēn之zhī二èr	sān fēn zhī èr
1/4	四sì分fēn之zhī一yī	sì fēn zhī yī
3/4	四sì分fēn之zhī三sān	sì fēn zhī sān
1/5	五wǔ分fēn之zhī一yī	wǔ fēn zhī yī
2/5	五wǔ分fēn之zhī二èr	wǔ fēn zhī èr
3/5	五wǔ分fēn之zhī三sān	wǔ fēn zhī sān
4/5	五wǔ分fēn之zhī四sì	wǔ fēn zhī sì
45/70	七qī十shí分fēn之zhī四sì十shí五wǔ	qī shí fēn zhī sìshíwǔ

Note that 1/2 is written as “one half”, that is 一yī半bàn. Although 二èr分fēn之zhī一yī is a valid way of writing 1/2, in the same way that “one over two” is correct in English, you are far more likely to just say “one half”; this is the same in Chinese where “yībàn” (一yī半bàn) is the way you would normally say 1/2.

Literally 分fēn之zhī means divided, or more specifically 分fēn means to divide and 之zhī is the equivalent of 的de, indicating possession. Simply put 分fēn之zhī just means divided; alternatively you may want to think of 分fēn之zhī as meaning “in to”, so 33分fēn之zhī22 means “3 in to 2” (2/3) and 1100分fēn之zhī77 means “10 in to 7” (7/10).

How to write percentages in Chinese

The first point to understand about writing percentages in Chinese is you can express them mathematically using numbers followed by percent sign (%) exactly as you do in English e.g. 7%, 54%, 150% etc. This is the normal way or writing percentages in just about any language.

Percentage	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
7%	百bǎi分fēn之zhī七qī	bǎi fēn zhī qī
54%	百bǎi分fēn之zhī五wǔ十shí四sì	bǎi fēn zhī wǔshí sì
150%	百bǎi分fēn之zhī一yī百bǎi五wǔ十shí	bǎi fēn zhī yībǎi wǔ shí

Secondly, if you want to write a percentage in Chinese words or read a percentage aloud, just append he Chinese word for percent in front of the number. The Chinese word for percentage is 百bǎi分fēn之zhī, which is pronounced as “bǎi fēn zhī”. So in English while you would say “seven percent”, in Chinese this would be “bǎi fēn zhī qī” (百bǎi分fēn之zhī七qī) where “qī” (七qī) is the Chinese word for seven. Some examples:

So what does 百bǎi分fēn之zhī mean? If you understand fractions, you will know this means a fraction of 100, thus in Chinese when you say percent you are actually saying “over one hundred”. Let me demonstrate this is the table below:

Percentage	Expressed as a fraction over one hundred	Written in a mixture of numerals (numbers) and the word for fraction 分之	Written entirely in Chinese characters
7%	7 / 100	100 分之 7	百bǎi分fēn之zhī七qī
54%	54 / 100	100 分之 7	百bǎi分fēn之zhī五wǔ十shí四sì
150%	150 / 100	100 分之 7	百bǎi分fēn之zhī一yī百bǎi五wǔ十shí

Algebra – Chinese Language Vocabulary

If you are doing more advanced maths in Chinese, you may wonder how to say and write words like “cosine”, “to the power of” or “squared” to name but a few. The table below provides the Pinyin pronunciation and the Chinese words for a number of terms you will likely come across in Algebra:

English Maths Term	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
tan	正zhèng切qiē	zhèngqiē
cosine	餘yú弦xián	yúxián
sine	正zhèng弦xián	zhèngxián
to the power of	对duì......的de力lì量liang	duì… de lìliàng e.g 2^10 = 2 duì 10 de lìliàng
Pythagoras’ theorem	畢bì達dá哥gē拉lā斯sī定dìng理lǐ	bì dá gē lā sī dìnglǐ
squared	平píng方fāng	píngfāng

Geometry – Chinese Language Vocabulary

Below is a list of Chinese words used in geometry that you may find useful if you are doing maths in Chinese:

English	Chinese	Pronunciation (Pinyin)
acute angle	锐ruì角jiǎo	ruìjiǎo
angle	角jiǎo度dù	jiǎodù
arc	弧hú	hú
chord	弦xián	xián
circumference	周zhōu	zhōu
diameter	直zhí径jìng	zhíjìng
equilateral triangle	等děng边biān三sān角jiǎo形xíng	děng biān sānjiǎoxíng
hexagon	六liù边biān形xíng	liù biān xíng
Isosceles triangle	等děng腰yāo三sān角jiǎo形xíng	děng yāo sānjiǎoxíng
line	线xiàn	xiàn
line segment	线xiàn段duàn	xiànduàn
obtuse Angle	钝dùn角jiǎo	dùnjiǎo
octagon	八bā角jiǎo形xíng	bā jiǎoxíng
parallel	平píng行xíng	píngxíng
parallel line segments	平píng行xíng线xiàn段duàn	píngxíng xiànduàn
parallel lines	平píng行xíng线xiàn	píngxíng xiàn
parallelogram	平píng行xíng四sì边biān形xíng	píngxíng sìbiānxíng
pentagon	五Wǔ角jiǎo大Dà楼lóu	wǔjiǎodàlóu
pentagon	五Wǔ角jiǎo大Dà楼lóu	wǔjiǎodàlóu
point	点diǎn	diǎn
radius	半bàn径jìng	bànjìng
rectangle	长cháng方fāng形xíng	chángfāngxíng
rhombus	菱líng形xíng	língxíng
right angle	直zhí角jiǎo	zhíjiǎo
scalene triangle	不bù等děng边biān三sān角jiǎo形xíng	bù děng biān sānjiǎoxíng
square	广guǎng场chǎng	guǎngchǎng
star (shape)	星xīng形xíng	xīng xíng
tangent	切qiē线xiàn	qiēxiàn
triangle	三sān角jiǎo形xíng	sānjiǎoxíng
vertex	顶dǐng点diǎn	dǐngdiǎn

Conclusion

Please feel free to look at my other article on counting in Chinese. If you are interested in learning or improving your Chinese, I’ve spent some time selecting what I consider to be the best top ten resources for learning Chinese here.