<p>In mainland China,</p>

<p>row = 行, 
column = 列.</p>

<p>行（hang2）meaning 橫（heng2）or horizontal; 列（lie4）meaning 竖（shu4）or vertical</p>

<p>While in Taiwan, </p>

<p>row = 列, 
column = 行.</p>

<p>Yes, it is really confusing! Though I'm from Taiwan, I actually prefer the mainland way, because it "sounds" the same as its meaning. The same tone gives a feeling of the same meaning. People just always mix up 行 and 列 in Taiwan.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-14T10:20:06.430Z
Do you think this has anything to do with the writing direction? Since Mainland writes horizontally and (I think) Taiwan writes vertically?
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-14T10:44:10.187Z
Yes, especially in books. Most books from Taiwan are written vertically. That's quite an interesting question. I'm no expert, but maybe that's the reason ;)
thyu
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-14T10:16:44.813Z
2018-10-14T10:16:44.813Z
thyu
<ul>
<li>row: 行(hang2)</li>
<li>column: 列(lie4)</li>
</ul>

<p>I don't know what is henghang(横行?) . Chinese don't use this word.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-12T12:40:09.993Z
横行/竖列 are just verbose way of saying the same thing. Some old people would use 行 for both dimensions and call 列 as 竖行. For them just saying 行 might be ambiguous. Hence 横行. Almost all young people use 行/列 now.
jf328
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-12T09:06:31.117Z
2018-10-12T09:06:31.117Z
heroboy
<p>I need to talk about a spreadsheet remotely with a colleague of mine. In order to do that I need some good terms for</p>

<ul>
<li>column </li>
<li>row</li>
</ul>

<p>row is henghang I believe (not sure about the characters though but I can't really find something convincing for 'column'. It must also be some sort of 'hang' as well.</p>

<translation>
Chinese for 'row' & 'column' in spreadsheets/tables
# Chinese for 'row' & 'column' in spreadsheets/tables

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-10-12)

I need to talk about a spreadsheet remotely with a colleague of mine. In order to do that I need some good terms for

* column
* row

row is henghang I believe (not sure about the characters though but I can't really find something convincing for 'column'. It must also be some sort of 'hang' as well.

**Tags:** translation


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-10-14. Score: 4

In mainland China,

row = 行,
column = 列.

行（hang2）meaning 橫（heng2）or horizontal; 列（lie4）meaning 竖（shu4）or vertical

While in Taiwan,

row = 列,
column = 行.

Yes, it is really confusing! Though I'm from Taiwan, I actually prefer the mainland way, because it "sounds" the same as its meaning. The same tone gives a feeling of the same meaning. People just always mix up 行 and 列 in Taiwan.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Do you think this has anything to do with the writing direction? Since Mainland writes horizontally and (I think) Taiwan writes vertically?  
> **username_1**: Yes, especially in books. Most books from Taiwan are written vertically. That's quite an interesting question. I'm no expert, but maybe that's the reason ;)  

---

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-10-12. Score: 3

* row: 行(hang2)
* column: 列(lie4)

I don't know what is henghang(横行?) . Chinese don't use this word.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: 横行/竖列 are just verbose way of saying the same thing. Some old people would use 行 for both dimensions and call 列 as 竖行. For them just saying 行 might be ambiguous. Hence 横行. Almost all young people use 行/列 now.  

---

