得 (dé): to obtain, to get, to gain
得 (dé) is a Chinese character meaning “to obtain.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 彳 (structural), 旦 (structural) and 寸 (structural). It ranks #39 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 得 a hand 寸 grabbing a shell 旦. Its radical form 彳 (step) appears in many related characters such as 很 (hěn, very), 往 (wǎng, to go (in a direction)), 待 (dài, to wait).
Definitions
- to obtain
- to get
- to gain
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA hand 寸 grabbing a shell 旦
Decomposition: ⿰彳⿱旦寸 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 得
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 觉得verb | jué de | to think that ... | 1 |
| 记得verb | jì de | to remember | 2 |
| 得到verb | dé dào | to get | 3 |
| 值得verb | zhí de | worth the money | 4 |
| 不得不adverb | bù dé bù | have no choice or option but to | 4 |
| 获得verb | huò dé | to obtain | 4 |
| 赢得verb | yíng dé | to win | 4 |
| 取得verb | qǔ dé | to acquire | 4 |
| 显得verb | xiǎn de | to seem | 5 |
| 得知verb | dé zhī | to find out | 6 |
| 得分verb/noun | dé fēn | to score a point (in a competition, test etc) | 3 |
| 懂得verb | dǒng de | to understand | 3 |
| 得了verb/particle | dé le | all right! | 6 |
| 使得verb | shǐ de | usable | 5 |
| 来得及verb | lái de jí | to have enough time | 4 |
| 不得verb | bù dé | must not | 6 |
| 认得verb | rèn de | to recognize | 3 |
| 难得adjective | nán dé | seldom | 5 |
| 得意adjective | dé yì | proud of oneself | 4 |
| 不得了adjective | bù dé liǎo | desperately serious | 5 |
| 得以verb | dé yǐ | able to | 6 |
| 舍不得verb | shě bu de | to hate to do sth | 5 |
| 舍得verb | shě de | to be willing to part with sth | 5 |
| 只得adverb | zhǐ dé | to have no alternative but to | 6 |
| 看得起verb | kàn de qǐ | to show respect for | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 彼得proper-noun | bǐ dé | Peter (name) |
| 应得verb | yīng dé | to deserve |
| 晓得verb | xiǎo de | to know |
| 非得verb | fēi děi | (followed by a verb phrase, then – optionally – 不可, or 不行 etc) must |
| 怪不得adverb | guài bu de | no wonder! |
| 免得conjunction | miǎn de | so as not to |
| 得出verb | dé chū | to obtain (a result) |
| 得逞verb | dé chěng | to prevail |
| 来得verb | lái de | to emerge (from a comparison) |
得 appears in 128 compound words: 43 as the first character, 41 as the last, and 16 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 得 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (52)
to be unable to know or find out; to remain unknown; to be unable to ascertain
lit. success and failure, the gains and losses (idiom); fig. to weigh up various factors
Showing 12 of 52 idioms containing 得.
Example Sentences
这次考试他准备得很充分，所以成绩非常理想。
Zhè cì kǎoshì tā zhǔnbèi de hěn chōngfèn, suǒyǐ chéngjì fēicháng lǐxiǎng.
He prepared very thoroughly for this exam, so the results were very satisfactory.
900克黄金遗漏列车 女乘客失而复得
9 0 0 kè huáng jīn yí lòu liè chē nǚ chéng kè shī ér fù dé
900 grams of gold missing train Female passenger lost and recovered
(米兰冬奥会)谷爱凌、李方慧摘得自由式滑雪女子U池金、银牌
( mǐ lán dōng ào huì ) gǔ ài líng , lǐ fāng huì zhāi dé zì yóu shì huá xuě nǚ zǐ U chí jīn , yín pái
(Milan Winter Olympics) Gu Ailing and Li Fanghui won gold and silver medals in the women's U pool in freestyle skiing
冬奥—谷爱凌夺金后得悉外婆离世 记者会上哭说“昨晚才梦到她”
dōng ào — gǔ ài líng duó jīn hòu dé xī wài pó lí shì jì zhě huì shàng kū shuō zuó wǎn cái mèng dào tā
Winter Olympics - After Gu Ailing won the gold medal, she learned of her grandmother's death and cried at the press conference, "I only dreamed of her last night"
10万元财物失而复得,长沙火车站春运暖心守护旅客行..
1 0 wàn yuán cái wù shī ér fù dé , cháng shā huǒ chē zhàn chūn yùn nuǎn xīn shǒu hù lǚ kè háng . .
100,000 yuan of property was lost and recovered, and Changsha Railway Station warmly guarded the passengers during the Spring Festival:
美国12月营建许可总数录得144.8万户,为202..
měi guó yuè yíng jiàn xǔ kě zǒng shǔ lù dé . mò hù , wéi . .
U.S. building permits totaled 1.448 million in December, up from 202...
你记不记得我们认识的那一天？
Nǐ jì bù jìde wǒmen rènshi de nà yī tiān?
Do you remember the day we met?
你觉得我之前在做什么？
Nǐ juéde wǒ zhīqián zài zuò shénme?
What do you think I've been doing?
你记得了你父亲的生日吗？
Nǐ jìde le nǐ fùqin de shēngrì ma?
Did you remember your father's birthday?
我这个歌唱得好不好？
Wǒ zhège gēchàng de hǎobuhǎo?
Am I singing that song well?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 得 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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