DICTIONARY
The Chinese word keyi - 可以 - kěyǐ
(can in Chinese)
Phonetic script (Hanyu Pinyin)
kěyǐ
Listen to pronunciation
(Mandarin = standard Chinese without accent)
Note: In this special case, one of the tones is pronounced differently than the (written) Pinyin phonetic script indicates. This phenomenon is called Tone sandhi.
English translations
can, may, might, passable, surely, certainly,
could, should, not bad
Chinese characters:
For obtaining stroke order animations, visit the links to the individual characters below.
The traditional Chinese characters of kěyǐ are identical with the modern (simplified) characters displayed above.
Chinese Pinyin example sentence with 可以 ( keyi / kěyǐ ) ⓘWriting in Pinyin
Before using this Pinyin example sentence, consider that Chinese characters should always be your first choice in written communication.
If you cannot use Chinese characters, it is preferable to use the Pinyin with tones. Only use the Pinyin without tones if there's no other option (e.g. writing a text message from/to a mobile phone that doesn't support special characters such as ā, í, ǒ, ù).
Before using this Pinyin example sentence, consider that Chinese characters should always be your first choice in written communication.
If you cannot use Chinese characters, it is preferable to use the Pinyin with tones. Only use the Pinyin without tones if there's no other option (e.g. writing a text message from/to a mobile phone that doesn't support special characters such as ā, í, ǒ, ù).
Wo keyi wen ni ma?
Wǒ kěyǐ wěn nǐ ma?– English translation: Can I kiss you?
Topic
(no topic assigned)
Tags and additional information
(Meaning of individual characters, character components etc.)
to permit | because of
可以 ( keyi / kěyǐ ) belongs to the 10 most common composed words in Chinese language (rank 10)
可以 ( keyi / kěyǐ ) belongs to the 10 most common composed words in Chinese language (rank 10)
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Version 5.52 / Last updated: 2026-11-03