二本

èrběn

noun

Meanings

1 second-tier undergraduate university
2 Tier 2 university (gaokao admission)

Characters

undergraduate (from 本科)

Examples

他的分数只够上二本。

Tā de fēnshù zhǐ gòu shàng èrběn.

His score is only enough to get into a second-tier university.

很多二本学生也能进大厂。

Hěn duō èrběn xuéshēng yě néng jìn dàchǎng.

Plenty of second-tier university students also land jobs at big tech companies.

Tips

culture

Shorthand for 本科二批 (second undergraduate admission batch). The hierarchy — 一本 / 二本 / 三本 / 专科 — is informal but deeply status-laden in Chinese job markets. Many provinces have now merged 二本 and 三本 into a single 本科 batch.

Stroke Order

二 èr

本 běn