葉 meaning and stroke order
Leaf, page; surname
How to write 葉, 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 葉
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- leaf
- page
- lobe
- (historical) period
- classifier for small boats
How 葉 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A flat 枼 leaf 艹; 枼 also provides the pronunciation.
Radical: 艹 (grass), shared by 421 characters on this site.
How to remember 葉
The grass radical 艹 on top marks a plant, and 枼 below pictures something thin and flat on a tree 木. Together they give a flat green leaf, and 枼 also hints at the sound yè.
葉 is the traditional form, used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and older texts, while mainland China writes 叶. It appears in words like 樹葉 (shùyè, tree leaves) and 茶葉 (cháyè, tea leaves), and it can also mean a page or a historical period. Example: 秋天的落葉很美。(Qiūtiān de luòyè hěn měi.) The fallen leaves in autumn are beautiful.
Common mistake: Learners often write the bottom part as plain 世 plus 木 with the strokes merged wrongly, or confuse 枼 with 葉's relative 蝶 (dié, butterfly), which shares the same component but has a different sound. Also remember that in simplified text the character is 叶, so do not mix 葉 into simplified writing.
Common words with 葉
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
Questions about 葉
How many strokes are in 葉?
葉 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 葉 mean?
葉 (yè) means leaf, page; surname. A common word with it is 叶子 (yèzi), meaning "leaf (CL:片[pian4]); (slang) marijuana".
How do you pronounce 葉?
葉 is pronounced yè, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 葉?
The radical of 葉 is 艹, which carries the idea of "grass". Dictionaries list 葉 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 葉?
葉 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 叶, used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 葉 used as a surname?
Yes. 葉 (Yè) is a common Chinese surname, often romanized as Yeh in Taiwan or Yip in Hong Kong Cantonese. In simplified Chinese the surname is written 叶.
How is 葉 used as a measure word?
In literary writing 葉 can count small boats, as in 一葉扁舟 (yí yè piānzhōu), a single small boat. The image is a boat floating like a leaf on the water, and this use is rare in everyday speech.