哑 meaning and stroke order
Mute; dumb; incapable of speech; (of a voice) hoarse; husky; (bound form) (of a bullet, bomb etc) dud
How to write 哑, stroke by stroke
9 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 哑
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- mute; dumb; incapable of speech
- (of a voice) hoarse; husky
- (bound form) (of a bullet, bomb etc) dud
- (onom.) sound of cawing
- sound of infant learning to talk
- variant of 呀[ya1]
How 哑 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Mouth.
口 gives the meaning and 亚 hints at the sound.
Radical: 口 (mouth), shared by 428 characters on this site.
How to remember 哑
哑 is pictophonetic: 口 (mouth) gives the meaning and 亚 (yà) gives the sound. Picture a mouth 口 next to 亚 that cannot get words out, so the person is mute or the voice is hoarse.
哑 (yǎ) describes someone who cannot speak, or a voice that has gone rough, as in 沙哑 (shāyǎ). It also appears in set phrases like 哑口无言 (yǎ kǒu wú yán), speechless. Example: 我嗓子哑了。(Wǒ sǎngzi yǎ le.) My voice has gone hoarse.
Common mistake: Learners often read 哑 with the fourth tone because its phonetic part 亚 is yà, but the common reading is third tone yǎ. Also do not confuse it with 恶 (è), which has 亚 on top of 心 rather than beside 口.
Common words with 哑
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 哑巴 | yǎba | a mute; mute; silent | |
| 沙哑 | shāyǎ | hoarse; husky; raspy |
哑 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 哑
How many strokes are in 哑?
哑 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 哑 mean?
哑 (yǎ) means mute; dumb; incapable of speech; (of a voice) hoarse; husky; (bound form) (of a bullet, bomb etc) dud. A common word with it is 哑巴 (yǎba), meaning "a mute; mute; silent".
How do you pronounce 哑?
哑 is pronounced yǎ, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 哑?
The radical of 哑 is 口, which carries the idea of "mouth". Dictionaries list 哑 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 哑?
The traditional form of 哑 is 啞. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 哑 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 哑 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 哑 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Is it polite to call someone 哑巴?
哑巴 (yǎba) can sound blunt or rude when used about a person. In respectful contexts people say 聋哑人 (lóngyǎ rén) or 言语障碍者 (yányǔ zhàng'ài zhě) instead.
When is 哑 pronounced yā?
The yā reading is used for sounds, such as a crow cawing or a baby babbling, and as a variant of 呀 (yā). It is much less common than yǎ.