🥵 Feeling the heat this summer? 💦 Cool off with these essential Chinese words to survive the summer! From how to say "heatwave" to asking someone to turn on the air conditioning, talking about the beach, or reminding someone to put on sunscreen.
1. 夏天 [xiàtiān]: summer
夏天 means "summer." It is the most basic word to talk about this season.
Example
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 夏天的时候，我们经常去海滩。 | xiàtiān de shíhou, wǒmen jīngcháng qù hǎitān | We usually go to the beach in summer. |
2. 高温 [gāowēn]: high temperatures
高 means "high" and 温 means "temperature". It’s often used on the news, and in weather reports, and conversations about especially hot days.
Example
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 高温天要多喝水。 | gāowēn tiān yào duō hē shuǐ | When the temperatures are very high, you need to drink more water. |
3. 热浪 [rèlàng]: heatwave
热 means "heat" (notice the radical for "fire": 灬) and 浪 means "wave" (with the radical for "water": 氵), so visually this one is quite easy to remember.
Example
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 这几天有热浪。 | zhè jǐ tiān yǒu rèlàng | There is a heatwave right now. |
4. 炎热 [yánrè]: very hot, scorching
炎 refers to intense heat (two fires, 火, one on top of the other), so when combined with 热, you get scorching heat.
Example
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 炎热天气最好不要出门，也不要运动。 | yánrè tiānqì zuìhǎo bú yào chūmén, yě bú yào yùndòng | When it’s extremely hot, it’s best not to go outside or exercise. |
5. 空调 [kōngtiáo]: air conditioning
Your summer bestie. If you want to ask whether someone has air conditioning or if they can turn it on, use the following:
Examples
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 这里有空调吗？ | zhèlǐ yǒu kōngtiáo ma? | Is there air conditioning here? |
| 请问，我有点儿热，可以开空调吗？ | qǐngwèn, wǒ yǒudiǎnr rè, kěyǐ kāi kōngtiáo ma? | Excuse me, I’m a little hot. Can I turn on the air conditioning? |
6. 风扇 [fēngshàn]: fan
风 means “wind”, and 扇 is related to “fan” or “to fan”. There are different types:
- 台扇 [táishàn]: desk fan
- 落地扇 [luòdìshàn]: standing fan
- 吊扇 [diàoshàn]: ceiling fan
And as a bonus, 扇子 [shànzi]: hand fan
7. 凉快 [liángkuai]: cool, pleasant
凉快 is used to describe coolness in the pleasant sense: a place, the weather, a room, the shade, the clothes you’re wearing, etc.
Example
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 这里很凉快。 | zhèlǐ hěn liángkuai | It’s nice and cool here. |
Remember if you’re talking about a drink, you use 冰 [bīng] instead. For example, 冰饮料 [bīng yǐnliào], “cold drink”.
8. 中暑 [zhòngshǔ]: to suffer heatstroke
中暑 means “to suffer heatstroke” or “to get sunstroke”. When 中 is used as a verb, it can mean “to hit the target” or “to suffer from”. 暑, meanwhile, is related to the heat of summer.
Example
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 天气太热，小心中暑。 | tiānqì tài rè, xiǎoxīn zhòngshǔ | It’s too hot, so be careful not to get heatstroke. |
9. 游泳池 [yóuyǒngchí]: swimming pool
This is formed using 游泳, “to swim”, and 池, “pond” or “pool”.
Example
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 酒店有游泳池吗？ | jiǔdiàn yǒu yóuyǒngchí ma? | Does the hotel have a swimming pool? |
10. 海滩 [hǎitān]: beach
海 means “sea” and 滩 means “beach” or “sandbank”.
Example
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 去海滩时，别忘了带太阳伞、毛巾和太阳镜。 | qù hǎitān shí, bié wàng le dài tàiyángsǎn, máojīn hé tàiyángjìng | When you go to the beach, don’t forget to bring a beach umbrella, a towel and sunglasses. |
11. 泳衣 [yǒngyī]: swimsuit
If you look closely, this phrase uses the 泳 from 游泳 (“to swim”) and the 衣 from 衣服 (“clothes”). Put them together and you get 泳衣 meaning “swimsuit” or “bathing suit”. Bikini was adapted phonetically from English, to give 比基尼 [bǐjīní] in Chinese.
12. 晒太阳 [shài tàiyáng]: to sunbathe
晒 means “to expose to the sun” or “to dry in the sun”, while 太阳 means “sun”. Too much time in the sun can also lead to 晒伤 [shàishāng], “sunburn” (literally, “to be injured from exposure to the sun”).
Example
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 小心点儿，晒太阳太久容易晒伤。 | xiǎoxīn diǎnr, shài tàiyáng tài jiǔ róngyì shàishāng | Be careful: if you sunbathe for too long, you can get sunburned. |
13. 防晒霜 [fángshàishuāng]: sunscreen
防 means “to protect”, then as we already learned 晒 refers to exposure to the sun, and finally 霜 means “cream”.
Example
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 最好用防晒指数50的防晒霜。 | zuìhǎo yòng fángshài zhǐshù wǔshí de fángshàishuāng | It’s best to use SPF 50 sunscreen. |
14. 暑假 [shǔjià]: summer vacation
You already know 暑 is related to “heat” and “summer”, well here 假 means “vacation”. 暑假 is mainly used in a school or university context to refer to the summer break. If you work and want to talk about taking time off in the summer, it’s more natural to say 夏天休假 [xiàtiān xiūjià] or 休年假 [xiū niánjià].
Example
| hanzi | pinyin | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 八月二号我终于放暑假了！ | bā yuè èr hào wǒ zhōngyú fàng shǔjià le! | I’m finally going on my summer vacation on August 2! |
15. 冰激凌 [bīngjīlíng]: ice cream
You may also see this term written as 冰淇淋 [bīngqílín], depending on the region and level of formality required. Etymologically speaking, 冰激凌 / 冰淇淋 is an adaptation of the English “ice cream” into Chinese, using a mix of semantic and phonetic elements. 冰 means “ice” or “cold”, while the rest of the word sounds a little like the English.
All this vocabulary and phrases are sure to come in handy if you’re travelling around China this summer. And don’t forget to order a 冰柠檬水 [bīng níngméng shuǐ], cold lemon water, to cool down!
FAQs
How do you say “it’s very hot” in Chinese?
You can say 太热了 [tài rè le], which means “it’s extremely hot”, or you can also use 今天很热 [jīntiān hěn rè], “it’s hot today”.
What’s the difference between 夏天 and 暑假?
夏天 [xiàtiān] means “summer”, the season. 暑假 [shǔjià] means “summer vacation”, especially in a school or university context.
Will I find all of these words in HSK 3.0 2026?
Not all of them, but you will find some, such as 夏天, 高温, 炎热, 空调, 凉快, 中暑, 海滩, 暑假 and 冰激凌. Others, such as 热浪, 风扇, 游泳池 and 防晒霜, are not on the official lists, but they are very useful for talking about summer in Chinese.
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