業 meaning and stroke order
Business, profession; to study, to work
How to write 業, stroke by stroke
13 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 業
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- line of business
- industry
- occupation
- job
- employment
- school studies
How 業 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A musical instrument 业 made of wood 木.
Radical: 木 (tree), shared by 388 characters on this site.
How to remember 業
Picture a wooden rack (木 at the bottom) holding up a musical instrument 业 on top. Keeping and playing such an instrument was skilled work, so the character came to mean a trade or profession.
業 is the traditional form, used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and older texts, while mainland China writes 业. It appears mostly in compound words about work, study and industry, such as 職業 (zhíyè, occupation) and 作業 (zuòyè, homework). Example: 我的專業是商業。(Wǒ de zhuānyè shì shāngyè.) My major is business.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 業 with 葉 (yè, leaf), which has the same sound but a grass radical on top. Also, the simplified form 业 is not short for 亚 (yà), so watch the strokes in the middle.
Common words with 業
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 作業 | zuòyè | school assignment; homework | HSK 2 |
| 事業 | shìyè | undertaking; project | HSK 3 |
| 專業 | zhuānyè | specialty; specialized field | HSK 3 |
| 職業 | zhíyè | occupation; profession; vocation; professional | HSK 3 |
| 商業 | shāngyè | business; trade | HSK 3 |
| 工業 | gōngyè | industry | HSK 3 |
| 農業 | nóngyè | agriculture; farming | HSK 3 |
| 開業 | kāiyè | to open a business; to open a practice | HSK 3 |
| 就業 | jiùyè | to get a job; employment | HSK 3 |
| 創業 | chuàngyè | to begin an undertaking; to start an enterprise; entrepreneurship | HSK 3 |
| 畢業 | bìyè | graduation; to graduate | HSK 4 |
| 企業 | qǐyè | company; firm; enterprise; corporation | HSK 4 |
| 行業 | hángyè | trade; profession; industry; business | HSK 4 |
| 失業 | shīyè | unemployment; to lose one's job | HSK 4 |
Questions about 業
How many strokes are in 業?
業 is written with 13 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 業 mean?
業 (yè) means business, profession; to study, to work. A common word with it is 作业 (zuòyè), meaning "school assignment; homework".
How do you pronounce 業?
業 is pronounced yè, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 業?
The radical of 業 is 木, which carries the idea of "tree". Dictionaries list 業 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 業?
業 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 业, used in mainland China and Singapore.
How do you say 'graduate' using 業?
Use 畢業 (bìyè), which literally means to finish your studies. For example, 他去年畢業了 (Tā qùnián bìyè le) means he graduated last year.
Can 業 be used alone as a word?
Rarely in modern speech. It almost always appears inside compounds like 事業 (shìyè) or 工業 (gōngyè), or in set phrases such as 業餘 (yèyú), meaning amateur or in one's spare time.