娅 meaning and stroke order
A mutual term of address for sons-in-law or brothers-in-law
How to write 娅, 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 娅
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (literary) term of address between husbands of sisters
- (used to transliterate foreign names)
- (used in Chinese women's names)
How 娅 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Woman.
女 gives the meaning and 亚 hints at the sound.
Radical: 女 (woman), shared by 156 characters on this site.
How to remember 娅
娅 combines 女 (nǚ, woman) with 亚 (yà), which gives the sound. Picture a woman 女 standing beside 亚 to remember a name-like character read yà.
Today 娅 appears mostly in women's given names and in transliterations of foreign names, where it often stands for the sound "ya" or "ia". The old meaning of a term between husbands of sisters is literary and rarely used. Example: 她叫王娅。(Tā jiào Wáng Yà.) Her name is Wang Ya.
Common mistake: Learners often write 亚 (yà) alone when a name actually uses 娅, or the other way around. Check the exact name, because 亚 and 娅 are both common in names and are not interchangeable. Also keep the fourth tone, yà, not yā.
娅 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 娅
How many strokes are in 娅?
娅 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 娅 mean?
娅 (yà) means a mutual term of address for sons-in-law or brothers-in-law.
How do you pronounce 娅?
娅 is pronounced yà, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 娅?
The radical of 娅 is 女, which carries the idea of "woman". Dictionaries list 娅 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 娅?
The traditional form of 娅 is 婭. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 娅 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Why do foreign names like Sophia use 娅 instead of 亚?
Both can transliterate the sound "ya". 娅 is often chosen for female names because the 女 component makes the name look feminine. An example is 索菲娅 (Suǒfēiyà), Sophia.
Is 娅 used as an everyday word for brother-in-law?
No. That sense is literary. In modern speech, husbands of sisters call each other 连襟 (liánjīn), so 娅 is almost only seen in names.