烘乾機 / 烘干机
hōnggānjī
The English word 'dryer' can be translated into Chinese as 烘乾機 / 烘干机 (hōnggānjī). If unsure, use 烘乾機 / 烘干机. Wiktionary also lists 乾衣機 / 干衣机 (gānyījī).
Meaning: household appliance for drying clothing (noun)
Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 烘乾機 / 烘干机 | hōnggānjī |
| 乾衣機 / 干衣机 | gānyījī |
The term refers to a household appliance used for drying clothing.
What does it mean word for word?
The term 烘乾機 is composed of 烘 (to roast/dry), 乾 (dry) and 機 (machine).
Which one should you use?
烘乾機 (hōnggānjī) focuses on the action of heat-drying, whereas 乾衣機 / 干衣机 (gānyījī) focuses on the function of drying clothes.
Is it said differently in some regions?
烘乾機 uses the traditional character 乾, which is more common in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The form 烘干机 uses the simplified character 干, which is the standard in Mainland China.
How do you pronounce it?
hōnggānjī
Did you know?
- In many Chinese households, the 烘乾機 is rarely used for all fabrics because of a cultural preference for 'sun-drying' clothes to kill bacteria and 'freshly' scent them.
- The character 干 in the simplified 烘干机 is a homophone for 'shield' and 'trunk' and 'stem', though it is written identically in these different contexts.
- The word 機 in 烘乾機 comes from a root meaning 'engine' or 'mechanism', and is the same character used in 飛機 for 'airplane'.
Example sentences for Chinese are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “dryer” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
