Complete Guide to Tools in Chinese (Names & Vocabulary)

Want to learn all the different kinds of tools in Mandarin Chinese? Then you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, we will give you the most comprehensive list of tools in Chinese, from the most common ones used for jobs around the house leading up to specific tools and hardware for gardening, cooking, camping, and so on. We will present the tool names in Chinese characters and Pinyin to help you pronounce them, as well as a list of verbs that are used when using tools in Chinese. At the end of this post, you’ll find some example sentences to put the vocabulary to use.

But first and foremost, let’s learn how to say “tool” in Chinese.

“Tool” in Chinese

The word for tool in Chinese is 工具 (gōngjù). If you break the word into characters, 工 (gōng) stands for “work”, and 具 (zuò) means “implement”. Together, they express the concept of “tool”.

It’s a good idea to add 工具 (gōngjù) to your staple Chinese vocabulary, as many other tool-related terms in Chinese are built around this word. For example,

toolbox – 工具箱 (gōngjù xiāng)
toolkit – 工具包 (gōngjù bāo)
toolbar -工具栏 (gōngjù lán)

Quiz: Do you know what 工具人 (gōngjù rén) – “tool person” means in Chinese? Check out our list of common Chinese slang words to find out.

Just like in any language, you have to learn the individual name for each Chinese tool separately as the word 工具 (gōngjù) is not attached to any of them. Don’t worry – we’ll cover them all in this post.

A Grammar Note on Tools in Chinese

Every object requires a measure word when counted in Chinese. For example, you wouldn’t just say “a hammer”, or “two nails” in Chinese, you would say “a [measure word] hammer” and “two [measure word] nails”.

The measure word for “tool” itself is 件 (jiàn) in Chinese. For instance, you say 一件工具 (yí jiàn gōngjù) for “a tool”.

However, different tools require different measure words that speak to the shape or feature of that specific tool. For example, for tools with handles (e.g. hammer, ax), you can go with the measure word 把 (bǎ), and for tools that are long and thin, 根 (gēn) is the proper measure word to use.

To help you fully master tools in Chinese, we include the corresponding measure word for each tool in our list.

If the concept of measure words sounds alien to you, we have this entire article dedicated to explaining how Chinese measure words work. If you don’t know how to count in Chinese yet, you might want to start with our Chinese number tutorial first.

Complete List of Tools in Chinese

There is a huge range of tools and they all perform different functions, so there’s a lot of ground to cover. To help you out, we’ll start with a list of Chinese names for the most common tools that can serve as a launching point before moving on to more specific vocabulary.

Most Common Tool Names in Chinese

Here’s the list of the 15 most common tools in Chinese to give you a foundation. The words are in alphabetical order on the English side, complete with Pinyin Romanization and corresponding measure words.

English	Chinese	Pinyin	Measure Word
ax	斧头	fǔtou	把 (bǎ)
brush	刷子	shuāzi	把 (bǎ)
duct tape	胶布	jiāobù	卷 (Juǎn)
electric drill	电钻	diàn zuàn	把 (bǎ)
hammer	锤子	chuízi	把 (bǎ)
knife	刀	dāo	把 (bǎ)
nail	钉子	dīngzi	根 (gēn)
pliers	钳子	qiánzi	把 (bǎ)
saw	锯子	jùzi	把 (bǎ)
scissors	剪刀	jiǎndāo	把 (bǎ)
screw	螺丝	luósī	颗 (kē)
screwdriver	螺丝刀	luósī dāo	把 (bǎ)
tape measure	卷尺	juǎn chǐ	把 (bǎ)
tweezers	镊子	nièzi	把 (bǎ)
wrench	扳手	bānshǒu	把 (bǎ)

Carpentry Tools in Chinese

Can’t find the Chinese word for your tool? Then let’s get started on the extended tool lists.

If you’re in China and need to do some home repair work then you’ll find the following carpentry tool vocabulary to be very useful!

English	Chinese	Pinyin	Measure Word
bolt	螺栓	luó shuān	颗 (kē)
chisel	凿子	záozi	把 (bǎ)
file	锉刀	cuò dāo	把 (bǎ)
glue	胶水	jiāo shuǐ	瓶 (píng)
level	水平仪	shuǐpíng yí	个 (gè)
mallet	锤子	chuízi	把 (bǎ)
nut	螺帽	luó mào	颗 (kē)
paint	油漆	yóu qī	桶 (tǒng)
plane	刨子	bàozi	个 (gè)
rope	绳子	shéngzi	根 (gēn)
ruler	尺	chǐ	把 (bǎ)
safety goggles	护目镜	hù mù jìng	副 (fù)
sandpaper	砂纸	shā zhǐ	张 (zhāng)
scraper	刮刀	guā dāo	把 (bǎ)
utility knife	工具刀	gōngjù dāo	把 (bǎ)

Gardening Tools and Farming Tools in Chinese

Now let’s get you fixed up with all the Chinese vocabulary on gardening and farming tools that you’ll need.

English	Chinese	Pinyin	Measure Word
broom	扫帚	sàozhou	把 (bǎ)
bucket	桶	tǒng	个 (gè)
dustpan	簸箕	bòji	个 (gè)
trowel	小铲刀	xiǎo chǎn dāo	把 (bǎ)
hoe	锄头	chútou	把 (bǎ)
hose	水管	shuǐ guǎn	根 (gēn)
gardening gloves	园艺手套	yuányì shǒutào	副 (fù)
ladder	梯子	tīzi	架 (jià)
lawn mower	割草机	gē cǎo jī	台 (tái)
pitchfork	铁叉	tiě chā	把 (bǎ)
rake	钉耙	dīng pá	把 (bǎ)
scythe	镰刀	lián dāo	把 (bǎ)
shovel/spade	铁锹	tiě qiāo	把 (bǎ)
watering can	喷壶	pēn hú	个 (gè)
wheelbarrow	手推车	shǒu tuī chē	辆 (liàng)

Kitchen Tools in Chinese

Now let’s learn the Chinese names of common 厨房用具 (chúfáng yòngjù) – “kitchen tools” that are used for food preparation.

English	Chinese	Pinyin	Measure Word
bowl	碗	wǎn	个 (gè)
can opener	开罐器	kāi guàn qì	个 (gè)
cup	杯子	bēizi	个 (gè)
cutting board	切菜板	qiē cài bǎn	块 (kuài)
frying pan	煎锅	jiān guō	口 (kǒu)
kitchen knife	菜刀	cài dāo	把 (bǎ)
oven	烤箱	kǎo xiāng	个 (gè)
peeler	削皮器	xiāo pí qì	个 (gè)
pot	锅	guō	口 (kǒu)
spatula	锅铲	guō chǎn	把 (bǎ)
spoon	勺子	sháozi	把 (bǎ)
tray	托盘	tuō pán	个 (gè)
whisk	搅拌器	jiǎobàn qì	个 (gè)

Further Reading: All the Kitchen Vocabulary in Chinese

Survival Tools in Chinese

Now, we’re going to look at those must-have wilderness survival tools in Chinese. These words will be especially vital if you’re camping in China.

English	Chinese	Pinyin	Measure Word
candle	蜡烛	là zhú	根 (gēn)
compass	指南针	zhǐnán zhēn	个 (gè)
emergency whistle	求生口哨	qiú shēng kǒushào	个 (gè)
first aid kit	急救包	jíjiù bāo	个 (gè)
flashlight	手电筒	shǒu diàn tǒng	只 (zhī)
headlamp	头灯	tóu dēng	盏 (zhǎn)
lighter	打火机	dǎ huǒ jī	个 (gè)
match	火柴	huǒchái	根 (gēn)
sleeping bag	睡袋	shuì dài	个 (gè)
Swiss army knife	瑞士军刀	Ruìshì jūn dāo	把 (bǎ)
waterproof bag	防水袋	fáng shuǐ dài	个 (gè)
water purifying bottle	滤水壶	lǜ shuǐ hú	个 (gè)

Chinese Verbs Related to Tools

Verbs are perhaps the most important part of Chinese learning for beginners. Let’s explore some common Chinese verbs associated with using tools.

English	Chinese	Pinyin Pronunciation
to chop (with axe)	砍	kǎn
to cut (with knife)	切	qiē
to cut (with scissors)	剪	jiǎn
to drill	钻	zuàn
to hammer	捶	chuí
to hit	敲	qiāo
to measure	量	liáng
to paint	涂	tú
to saw	锯	jù
to screw	拧紧	níng jǐn
to sweep	扫	sǎo
to tie	捆	kǔn
to unscrew	拧开	nǐng kāi
to use	用	yòng
to water	浇	jiāo
to wrap	包	bāo

Example Sentences with Tools in Chinese

Now is the time to use the Chinese tool vocabulary in context. Practice the following sentences and you’ll develop your knowledge of Chinese grammar and gain confidence in speaking Chinese in simple conversations.

你有没有工具可以…？
Nǐ yǒu méiyǒu gōngjù kěyǐ …?
Do you have any tool for …?

我需要一件可以…的工具。
Wǒ xūyào yí jiàn kěyǐ … de gōngjù.
I need a tool to …

你知道这东西怎么用吗？
Nǐ zhīdào zhè dōngxi zěnme yòng ma?
Do you know how to use this thing?

请问附近有五金店吗？
Qǐngwèn fùjìn yǒu wǔjīn diàn ma?
Excuse me, is there a hardware store around here?

你见过我的工具箱吗？我好像找不到了。
Nǐ jiàn guò wǒ de gōngjù xiāng ma? Wǒ hǎoxiàng zhǎo bú dào le.
Have you seen my toolbox? I can’t seem to find it.

你有锤子吗？我需要在墙上敲几根钉子。
Nǐ yǒu chuízi ma? Wǒ xūyào zài qiáng shàng qiāo jǐ gēn dīngzi.
Do you have a hammer? I need to hit a couple of nails in the wall.

我能借一下你的卷尺吗？我想量一下这张桌子的高度。
Wǒ néng jiè yíxià nǐ de juǎn chǐ ma? Wǒ xiǎng liáng yíxià zhè zhāng zhuōzi de gāodù.
Can I borrow your tape measure for a sec? I’d like to measure the height of this table.

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