Pinyin Syllable

Chinese characters pronounced ce

Learn common Chinese characters pronounced ce, including 策 cè, 测 cè, 侧 cè / zhāi, 册 cè. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…

How to Pronounce This Syllable

For ce, start with the flat c and let it flow into e, holding the tone over the joined syllable.

Initial c

Flat tongue with strong aspiration.

Final e

Settle the final e into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.

Study Tip

Start with the most common characters (策 cè, 测 cè, 侧 cè / zhāi, 册 cè) and lock in their tones. 4 common characters share the sound ce, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.

Learn by Tone

ce turns up here with 1 different tone; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.

4th tone

Taking the 4th tone here: 策, 测, 侧… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

策cèmethod; plan; policy; scheme 测cèside; to lean; to survey; to measure; conjecture 侧cè / zhāithe side; to incline towards; to lean; inclined; lateral; side 册cèbook; a measure word for books; booklet

Common Words With This Sound

Seeing ce inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.

政策zhèng cèpolicy 策略cè lüèstrategy; tactics; crafty; adroit 策划cè huàto plot; to scheme; to bring about; to engineer 测试cè shìto test (machinery etc); to test (a person's skill in a particular area); a test; (computing) beta (version of software)检测jiǎn cèto test; to detect 预测yù cèto forecast; to predict 侧面cè miànlateral side; side; aspect; profile 两侧liǎng cètwo sides; both sides 侧重cè zhòngto place particular emphasis on 注册zhù cèto register; to enroll

Characters

4 common characters in this group.

Character#1 策 cèmethod; plan; policy; schemeTraditional: 策 Character#2 测 cèside; to lean; to survey; to measure; conjectureTraditional: 測 Character#3 侧 cè / zhāithe side; to incline towards; to lean; inclined; lateral; sideTraditional: 側 Character#4 册 cèbook; a measure word for books; bookletTraditional: 冊