• my nciku
  • conversations
  • Q&A
  • theme words
  • tools
  • nciku mini

listen

 Auto Play

listen

 Auto Play
HSK rank
聪明

★★

Font Size

Collins Chinese-English Dictionary

聪明 [cōngmíng]
  1. 1. adjective clever

Comprehensive Chinese-English Dictionary

聪明 [cōngmíng]
  1. 1. intelligent; bright; clever; brainy; smart
    聪明能干
    bright and capable
    这孩子很聪明
    This child is very clever.
    聪明机灵,讨人喜爱。
    聪明固然好,勤奋更重要。

Contemporary Standard Chinese Dictionary

聪明 [cōngmíng]
  1. 1. 天分高,智力强

Examples

禀赋聪明
be gifted with keen intelligence 禀赋
充分发挥人民群众的聪明才智
give full play to the wisdom and creativity of the people 才智
聪明能干
bright and capable 聪明
这孩子很聪明
This child is very clever. 聪明
这孩子用功但不怎么聪明
He's a hardworking but not very intelligent boy.
聪明过头
be too clever by half 过头
聪明好学
be intelligent and fond of learning 好学
绝顶聪明
extremely intelligent 绝顶
他人倒聪明,就是路道没有走对。
He's quite intelligent, but he doesn't have a correct approach to things. 路道
我弟弟没有他聪明
My younger brother is not so clever as he. 没有

Collocations

聪明的孩子
clever child
聪明机灵
be clever and smart
聪明
quite smart
冰雪聪明
bright as ice and snow/very clever
自作聪明
think of oneself as clever
聪明绝顶
extremely clever
聪明过人
foretell with miraculous accuracy

Word Decomposition


[cōng]
+
[míng]

nciku Note

聪明 vs. 伶俐

“聪明”、“伶俐”两个形容词都表示脑力好、智力强。
The adjectives 聪明 and 伶俐 both mean to have a good brain and to be very intelligent.
1.“聪明”一般指智力,“伶俐”兼指乖巧灵活。例(1)只能用“聪明”,而例(2)只能用“伶俐”。但两个词可以连用,表示智力和应付能力都强,如例(3)。
聪明 means “high intelligence”, while 伶俐 means “clever and nimble”. In example (1) only 聪明 can be used; in example (2) only 伶俐 can be used. But the two words can be used together to show both intelligence and the ability to cope with problems, as in example (3).
(1) 这个小孩很聪明,歌听了一遍就会唱了。
(2)作为一个相声演员,口齿要伶俐。
(3)这个女孩聪明伶俐,我们都很喜欢她。

View other nciku notes

Would you like to know more about this word? Simply click the button on the right to ask real people.
You can also check your questions and answers at ‘ My nciku > Posts ’.

Thesaurus

Revised Vocab Lists

This word has been edited
2 times by users.

View

Recently Reviewed Words

Content partners 外研社collins