Chinese word dictionary

只要

zhǐyào · so long as; provided; if

Practice word

Word information

Simplified只要

Traditional只要

Pinyinzhǐyào

Part of speech连

HSK 3.03

HSK 2.04

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

只zhī

only, merely, just

要yào

essential, necessary; to ask for; to coerce; to demand

How to learn 只要

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

不要búyào

don't!; must not

要yào

to want; to need; to ask for; will; shall; about to; need to; should; if (same as 要是[yao4 shi5]); (bound form) important

只zhī

classifier for birds and certain animals, one of a pair, some utensils, vessels etc; grain that has begun to ripen; variant of 隻|只[zhi1]

快要kuàiyào

nearly at the point of (doing sth); about to (do sth)

需要xūyào

to need; to want; to demand; to require; needs

要求yāoqiú

to request; to require; requirement; to stake a claim; to ask; to demand; CL:點|点[dian3]