pāi zhào
take a picture; photograph
Practice writing with stroke order guidance, audio pronunciation, and interactive exercises in our mobile app.
Step-by-step stroke order animations
Native speaker audio pronunciation
Interactive writing recognition
摄影 (shèyǐng)
photography
摄像 (shèxiàng)
videography
录像 (lùxiàng)
video recording
摄影 (shèyǐng)
photography
The Chinese word 拍照 (pàizhào) for "taking a photo" is composed of two characters: 拍 (pāi) and 照 (zhào). The character 拍 originally meant "to strike" or "to clap", and in the context of photography, it refers to the action of pressing the shutter button on a camera to take a picture. The character 照, on the other hand, originally meant "to shine" or "to illuminate", and in the context of photography, it refers to the process of capturing light and creating an image. When combined, the two characters 拍照 literally mean "to strike light", which aptly describes the process of taking a photograph.
