乘法 (chéng fǎ) is the Chinese term for 'multiplication', one of the four basic arithmetic operations. The character 乘 (chéng) means 'to multiply' or 'to ride', but in mathematics it specifically denotes the operation of repeated addition — for example, 3 × 4 means adding 3 four times. The character 法 (fǎ) means 'method', 'law', or 'rule', so 乘法 literally translates to 'the method of multiplication'. Together, they form a formal, academic noun used in math education, textbooks, and daily calculations.

This word appears frequently in school contexts, from elementary arithmetic to algebra. It’s often paired with related terms like 加法 (jiā fǎ, addition), 减法 (jiǎn fǎ, subtraction), and 除法 (chú fǎ, division). While spoken casually people may say '乘' alone (e.g., '三乘四'), 乘法 is the full, precise term used when naming the operation itself — as in 'learning multiplication' or 'the multiplication table'.