How to Say "Sixteen" in Chinese

十六

shíliù

Sixteen is expressed in Chinese as 十六 (shíliù).

十六 is the cardinal number for 16.

Meaning: cardinal number 16 (num)

How do you pronounce it?

shíliù

The concept of 'smoothness' associated with 六 in 十六 is so strong that people often repeat the digit, such as '666', to mean 'everything is going great'.
If you use a finger-counting system in a Chinese market, the number sixteen is not represented by sixteen fingers, but by a specific set of hand gestures that use the palm and fingers to signal complex numbers.
In some contexts, the number 六 in 十六 is linked to the word for 'flow' and is used as slang to describe someone who is 'slick' or highly skilled at what they do.

到了明年，我就十六歲了。
I will be sixteen years old next year.
This sentence is useful for expressing how old someone will be next year using 十六.
Tatoeba #13109243 by LeviHighway, translation #262153 by CK
「你幾歲？」「我十六歲。」
"How old are you?" "I'm sixteen."
This example shows how to answer a question about one's age with 十六.
Tatoeba #1233907 by tsayng, translation #418642 by CK
查理二十歲，丹尼爾十六歲。
Charlie is twenty, and Daniel is sixteen.
This sentence uses 十六 to state a person's age in comparison to another.
Tatoeba #6486867 by xjjAstrus, translation #9419675 by BobbyLee
5 more sentences on Tatoeba

Two friends are checking the number of items in a box.

佳怡 Jiayi

這裡有十六個蘋果。
Zhèlǐ yǒu shíliù gè píngguǒ.
There are sixteen apples here.
伟 Wei

對，正好是十六個。
Duì, zhènghǎo shì shíliù gè.
Right, it is exactly sixteen.
佳怡 Jiayi

那我們可以分給大家了。
Nà wǒmen kěyǐ fēn gěi dàjiā le.
Then we can distribute them to everyone.
伟 Wei

好的，我來拿盒子。
Hǎo de, wǒ lái ná hézi.
Okay, I will get the box.

Sources

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