恙 meaning and stroke order
Illness, sickness; indisposition
How to write 恙, stroke by stroke
10 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 恙
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- sickness
How 恙 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Heart.
心 gives the meaning and 羊 hints at the sound.
Radical: 心 (heart), shared by 97 characters on this site.
How to remember 恙
恙 is 羊 (yáng, sheep) sitting on top of 心 (xīn, heart). 羊 gives the sound yàng, and 心 at the bottom hints at something weighing on you, like worry or sickness.
恙 almost never appears alone in modern Chinese. It lives in set phrases with 无 (wú, without), meaning "without illness" or "unharmed." Example: 他在事故中安然无恙。(Tā zài shìgù zhōng ānránwúyàng.) He came out of the accident safe and sound.
Common mistake: Learners often read 恙 as yáng because of the 羊 on top, but it is fourth tone, yàng. It is also easy to confuse with 养 (yǎng, to raise), which looks similar but has a different bottom part and no 心.
Common words with 恙
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 安然无恙 | ānránwúyàng | safe and sound (idiom); to come out unscathed (e.g. from an accident or illness) | |
| 别来无恙 | biéláiwúyàng | (literary) I trust you have been well since we last met | |
| 无恙 | wúyàng | in good health |
Questions about 恙
How many strokes are in 恙?
恙 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 恙 mean?
恙 (yàng) means illness, sickness; indisposition. A common word with it is 安然无恙 (ānránwúyàng), meaning "safe and sound (idiom); to come out unscathed (e.g. from an accident or illness)".
How do you pronounce 恙?
恙 is pronounced yàng, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 恙?
The radical of 恙 is 心, which carries the idea of "heart". Dictionaries list 恙 under this radical.
Can I use 恙 by itself to say someone is sick?
Not in normal speech. For everyday sickness use 病 (bìng) or 生病 (shēngbìng). 恙 is mostly found in fixed literary phrases like 无恙 and 安然无恙.
When would I use 别来无恙?
It is a literary greeting for someone you have not seen in a long time, roughly "I trust you have been well." It sounds formal or a little playful in conversation, and it fits well in letters or reunions.