機器人 / 机器人
jīqìrén
The English word 'robot' is translated into Chinese as 機器人 / 机器人 (jīqìrén). Wiktionary also lists 機械人 / 机械人 (jīxièrén).
Meaning: intelligent mechanical being (noun)
Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 機器人 / 机器人 | jīqìrén | |
| 機械人 / 机械人 | jīxièrén | |
| 機器人 / 机器人 | ki-khì-lâng | Hokkien |
The term refers to an intelligent mechanical being. In an informal context, particularly when referring to toy robots or small humanoid robots, you may hear the term 机器娃娃.
What does it mean word for word?
The term 機器人 / 机器人 is a compound of 'machine' and 'person'.
Which one should you use?
There is a distinction between the terms used for a robot. 機器人 / 机器人 is the standard term used in Mainland China, while 機械人 / 机械人, which translates more literally to 'mechanical person', is more commonly used in Cantonese-speaking regions such as Hong Kong.
Is it said differently in some regions?
機械人 / 机械人 is more commonly used in Cantonese-speaking regions like Hong Kong, whereas 機器人 / 机器人 is the standard term in Mainland China.
How do you pronounce it?
ki-khì-lâng
Did you know?
- While the word for 'robot' uses the character for 'person', a Chinese speaker might call a particularly diligent or tireless worker a 機器人 / 机器人.
- In some contexts, robots are referred to as 智能體, which translates to 'intelligent entity'. This term is used to remove the 'human' requirement from the definition of a robot.
- The Chinese word for 'robot' is often used in gaming slang to describe a player who is playing poorly or predictably, similar to the English term 'bot'.
Example sentences for Chinese are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “robot” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
