How do you say "steam" in Chinese?

In Chinese, "steam" is 蒸汽 (zhēng qì). It is a noun.

Listen to the pronunciation:

Illustration of steam from Noun Town

Pronunciation

蒸汽 (pinyin: zhēng qì) is written using Chinese characters (Hanzi).

Related words

Curated by Jack Ratcliffe

Practice 蒸汽 and hundreds more Chinese words in the game.

Buy on Steam

Questions about 蒸汽

How do you pronounce 蒸汽?

蒸汽 is romanised as zhēng qì in Chinese. This pinyin gives you an approximate pronunciation for English speakers. Listen to the audio on this page for the native pronunciation.

How is 蒸汽 written in Chinese?

蒸汽 is written using Chinese characters (Hanzi). The pinyin is zhēng qì. Learning to read Chinese characters (Hanzi) takes time, but Noun Town teaches vocabulary through gameplay so the writing becomes familiar through repeated exposure.

Is 蒸汽 formal or casual?

蒸汽 is a common noun used in everyday Chinese speech. The level of formality in a sentence comes from the surrounding words and grammatical forms rather than from this word alone.

This word is part of the vocabulary taught in the Chinese language learning game Noun Town, where words are introduced through play rather than memorisation.