质量

• Pinyin: zhì liàng
• Hanzi breakdown: 质 = 斤 (axe) + 贝 (shell/currency), substance or essential nature; 量 = 日 (sun) + 里 (inside), to measure

Meaning

Quality; standard. Also used in physics to mean mass (the physical quantity).

In everyday use, 质量 refers to the quality or standard of products, work, or life: 产品质量 (product quality), 生活质量 (quality of life). In scientific contexts, it means physical mass. 质量好 means 'of good quality', and 质量差 means 'of poor quality'. Often used with 提高 (to improve) or 保证 (to guarantee).

Examples

1. 这家工厂生产的产品质量一直很稳定，深受客户信任。 The products made by this factory have always been of stable quality, and they are deeply trusted by customers.
2. 提高教育质量是当前教育改革的核心目标之一。 Improving educational quality is one of the core objectives of the current education reform.
3. 购物时不要只看价格，更要关注产品的质量。 When shopping, don't just look at the price — pay more attention to product quality.

Usage Guide

Context: commerce, education, science

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 这批货的质量不符合我们的标准，需要退换。(The quality of this shipment does not meet our standards and needs to be returned or exchanged.)
• 我们要在保证质量的前提下尽量控制成本。(We should try to control costs while ensuring quality is not compromised.)

Don't Say

• 把'质量'专门用于物理意义上的'质量（mass）' (Don't assume 质量 always means physical mass in everyday conversation — in most daily contexts it means quality/standard, not the physics term)

Origin & History

From 质 (substance/nature, 斤 axe + 贝 shell/currency) and 量 (to measure, 日 sun + 里 inside), originally meaning 'to assess the nature of something by measuring it'.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal