台 (tái): Taiwan (abbr.), used in place names, (classical) you (in letters)

台 (tái) is a Chinese character meaning “taiwan (abbr.).” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 厶 (structural) and 口 (structural). It ranks #388 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. Taiwan (abbr.)
  2. used in place names
  3. (classical) you (in letters)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

Practice writing 台 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 台

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
舞台nounwǔ tái(lit. and fig.) stage5
电视台noundiàn shì táitelevision station5
上台verbshàng táito rise to power (in politics)6
阳台nounyáng táivariant of 陽臺|阳台5
台阶nountái jiēsteps5
平台nounpíng táiplatform5
站台nounzhàn táiplatform (at a railway station)5
台风nountái fēngstage presence, poise6
台球nountái qiúbilliards6
台灯nountái dēngdesk lamp5
窗台nounchuāng táiwindowsill5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
台上tái shàngon stage
台词nountái cían actor's lines
电台noundiàn táitransmitter-receiver
后台nounhòu táibackstage area
柜台nounguì táivariant of 櫃檯|柜台
前台nounqián táistage
下台xià táito go off the stage
看台nounkàn táiterrace
舞台剧nounwǔ tái jùstage play
台下adverbtái xiàoff the stage
手术台nounshǒu shù táioperating table
台子tái zidesk
控制台nounkòng zhì táicontrol desk
台前tái qiánfront of the stage
台湾proper-nountái wānvariant of 臺灣|台湾
114
Total compounds
25
As first character
73
As last character
2
As middle character

台 appears in 114 compound words: 25 as the first character, 73 as the last, and 2 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 台 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

湾wān
0.60358,713 co-occurrences
舞wǔ
0.51297,257 co-occurrences
翠cuì
0.49617,182 co-occurrences
电diàn
0.48889,388 co-occurrences
北běi
0.488164,910 co-occurrences
视shì
0.46556,030 co-occurrences
垮kuǎ
0.4623,372 co-occurrences
播bō
0.45984,342 co-occurrences
站zhàn
0.451124,724 co-occurrences
配pèi
0.41747,948 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

唱对台戏chàng duìtáixìHSK 4+

to stage a rival show

verb
广播电台guǎngbō diàntáiHSK 4+

radio station

noun
近水楼台jìnshuǐlóutáiHSK 4+

to have a close relationship with someone or be in close proximity to something, which confers advantages

phrase
开台锣鼓kāitáiluógǔ

beating the gongs and drums before a theatrical performance; curtain-raiser

phrase
台湾海峡Táiwān HǎixiáHSK 7+

Taiwan Strait

亭台楼阁tíngtáilóugéHSK 7+

pavilions, terraces and towers (in general); traditional Chinese architecture

phrase
债台高筑zhàitáigāozhùHSK 7+

be up to one's eyeballs in debt; racked with debt

phrase
走马章台zǒu mǎ zhāng táiHSK 4+

to go to the brothel on horseback (idiom); to visit prostitutes

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他台才很好,能言善辩,是个出色的律师。

tā tái cái hěn hǎo , néng yán shàn biàn , shì gě chū sè de lǜ shī .

He's a gifted speaker and a skilled debater—an outstanding lawyer.

東方日報Feb 2026

...日报世界视线】美国若击败伊朗 战火或延至台海

. . . rì bào shì jiè shì xiàn měi guó ruò jī bài yī lǎng zhàn huǒ huò yán zhì tái hǎi

... If the United States defeats Iran, the war may extend to the Taiwan Strait

WorldjournalFeb 2026

汪小菲过年带子逛饶河夜市 脱口“台湾”赶紧加“中国”

wāng xiǎo 菲 guò nián dài zǐ guàng ráo hé yè shì tuō kǒu tái wān gǎn jǐn jiā zhōng guó

Wang Xiaofei took her children to visit Raohe Night Market during the New Year and blurted out "Taiwan" and quickly added "China"

百度新闻Feb 2026

大看台|从郑钦文到宁忠岩:冲破欧美垄断 镌刻东...

dà kàn tái cóng zhèng qīn wén dào nìng zhōng yán : chōng pò ōu měi lǒng duàn 镌 kè dōng . . .

From Zheng Qinwen to Ning Zhongyan: Breaking through the monopoly of Europe and the United States, engraved in the east...

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春走基层|喜迎10名小马宝宝,一天8台手术——他..

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng xǐ yíng 1 0 míng xiǎo mǎ bǎo bǎo , yī tiān 8 tái shǒu shù — — tā . .

Welcome 10 pony babies, 8 surgeries a day - he:

百度新闻Feb 2026

...初三车间灯就亮了,航天老厂通过自研AI平台,稳..

. . . chū sān chē jiān dēng jiù liàng le , háng tiān lǎo hǎn tōng guò zì yán A I píng tái , wěn . .

... The lights in the workshop on the third day of junior high school are on, and the old aerospace factory has stabilized through the self-developed AI platform.

Tatoeba

我可以在哪个柜台预约?

Wǒ kěyǐ zài nǎge guìtái yùyuē?

On which counter can I make my appointment?

Tatoeba

台湾的货币是什么 ?

Táiwān de huòbì shì shénme?

What is the currency of Taiwan?

Tatoeba

你搬不动那台钢琴。

Nǐ bān bù dòng nà tái gāngqín.

You can't lift the piano.

Tatoeba

台风吹毁了很多房屋。

Táifēng chuī huǐ le hěn duō fángwū.

Not a few houses were destroyed by the typhoon.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced tái

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 台 (tái) mean in Chinese?
台 (tái) primarily means "taiwan (abbr.)." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #388 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 台 have?
台 is written with 5 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 台?
The radical associated with 台 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 台?
台 is composed of: 厶 (structural), 口 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱厶口 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 台?
Common words with 台 include: 舞台 (wǔ tái, "(lit. and fig.) stage"); 台上 (tái shàng, "on stage"); 台词 (tái cí, "an actor's lines"); 电视台 (diàn shì tái, "television station"); 电台 (diàn tái, "transmitter-receiver"). There are over 114 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 台 (tái)?
Several characters share the pronunciation tái: 太 (highest), 态 ((bound form)), 泰 (Mt Tai 泰山 in Shandong), 抬 (to lift), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 台 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 台 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 台 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.