幼稚

yòuzhì
adjective HSK 7 #5,760

Meanings

  1. 1 childish; immature; naive
  2. 2 young and inexperienced

Characters

Both characters convey youth and immaturity — together they describe behavior or thinking that is childishly simple or undeveloped.

Examples

Tā de xiǎngfǎ tài yòuzhì le.
His ideas are too naive.
Bié zhème yòuzhì, chéngshú yīdiǎn hǎo bu hǎo?
Don't be so childish — can you be a bit more mature?

Tips

usage
幼稚 is almost always negative when describing adults — it means 'childish' as a criticism. But 幼稚 (yòuzhìyuán, kindergarten — literally 'infant garden') is completely neutral. In Taiwan, 幼稚 is still the standard word for kindergarten, while mainland China uses 幼儿园.

Stroke Order

yòu
zhì