落 luò / là — leave behind; alight; to fall; to drop (behind)
秋天到了，树叶纷纷落下。Qiū tiān dào le, shù yè fēn fēn luò xià.Autumn has come, and the leaves are falling one after another.
Common words: 落后 (luò hòu)、降落 (jiàng luò)、落实 (luò shí)
Meaning Index
Chinese characters meaning "to drop"
Learn Chinese characters with the meaning "to drop", including 落 (luò / là), 降 (jiàng / xiáng), 掉 (diào), 跌 (diē). Study pinyin, English meanings…
How to Study This Meaning Group
The English word "to drop" covers 4 different Chinese characters — 落 (luò / là), 降 (jiàng / xiáng), 掉 (diào), 跌 (diē) — and each is its own word with its own feel. These 4 characters do not share a sound — their readings span luò, là, jiàng, xiáng, diào, diē — so confirm the pinyin and tone for each one separately. The example sentences further down show how 落 and the others are actually used, so you learn them in context rather than as a single translation.
- 落 luò / làleave behind; alight; to fall; to drop (behind)Useful words: 落后, 降落
- 降 jiàng / xiángto drop; to fall; to come down; to descend; surrenderUseful words: 下降, 降低
- 掉 diàoto drop; to fallUseful words: 去掉, 丢掉
- 跌 diēto drop; to fall; to tumbleUseful words: 下跌, 大跌
Common words for these 4 "to drop" characters
Anchor each of these 4 characters in a word you can picture — start with 落 (luò / là) — so "to drop" turns into concrete usage instead of a one-to-one translation.
落后luò hòuto fall behind; to lag (in technology etc); backward; to retrogress降落jiàng luòto descend; to land落实luò shípractical; workable; to implement; to carry out下降xià jiàngto decline; to drop; to fall; to go down降低jiàng dīto reduce; to lower; to bring down降落jiàng luòto descend; to land去掉qù diàoto get rid of; to exclude; to eliminate; to remove丢掉diū diàoto lose; to throw away; to discard; to cast away忘掉wàng diàoto forget下跌xià diēto fall; to tumble
See each character in a sentence
Each character below is shown in a short example sentence with pinyin and an English translation — the quickest way to feel the difference between the 4 ways to say "to drop".
降 jiàng / xiáng — to drop; to fall; to come down; to descend; surrender
气温突然降了下来。Qì wēn tū rán jiàng le xià lái.The temperature suddenly dropped.
Common words: 下降 (xià jiàng)、降低 (jiàng dī)、降落 (jiàng luò)
掉 diào — to drop; to fall
树上的苹果掉到了地上。Shù shàng de píng guǒ diào dào le dì shàng.The apple on the tree fell to the ground.
Common words: 去掉 (qù diào)、丢掉 (diū diào)、忘掉 (wàng diào)
跌 diē — to drop; to fall; to tumble
他不小心跌倒在地上。Tā bù xiǎo xīn diē dǎo zài dì shàng.He accidentally fell to the ground.
Common words: 下跌 (xià diē)、大跌 (dà diē)、看跌 (kàn diē)
All 4 characters
Open 落、降、掉 or any character below to hear it read aloud and see it used in an example sentence.