TraceHanzi

酪 meaning and stroke order

lào

Cream, cheese; koumiss

13 strokesRadical 酉
Strokes13
Pinyinlào
ToneTone 4
Frequency#2,095
Printable worksheet

How to write 酪, 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 酪

Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.

làofourth tone (falling)
  1. (bound form) semi-solid food made from milk (junket, cheese etc)
  2. (bound form) fruit jelly; sweet paste made with crushed nuts
  3. Taiwan pr. [luo4]

How 酪 is built

Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Wine.

yǒuwine+gèeach

酉 gives the meaning and 各 hints at the sound.

Radical: 酉 (wine), shared by 67 characters on this site.

How to remember 酪

酪 is built from 酉, a wine jar that marks things made by fermenting, plus 各 (gè), which hints at the sound. Picture milk left in a jar until it ferments and thickens into cheese.

酪 is a bound form and almost never appears alone. You will see it in words for milk products like 奶酪 (nǎilào) and 乳酪 (rǔlào), and in names of sweet pastes such as 杏仁酪 (xìngrénlào), almond paste. Example: 我喜欢吃奶酪。 (Wǒ xǐhuan chī nǎilào.) I like eating cheese.

Common mistake: Learners often write 酪 as 骆 (luò, camel) or 络 (luò, net) because they share 各. Remember that only the 酉 version is food. Also note the mainland reading is lào, while Taiwan says luò.

Common words with 酪

Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.

WordPinyinMeaningLevel
奶酪nǎilàocheese
乳酪rǔlàocheese
干酪gānlàocheese

酪 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

想xiǎng吃chī一yì点diǎn巧qiǎo克kè力lì奶nǎi酪lào吗ma？
How about some chocolate cheese?
我wǒ们men把bǎ牛niú奶nǎi制zhì成chéng奶nǎi酪lào和hé黄huáng油yóu。
We make milk into cheese and butter.
这zhè块kuài蛋dàn糕gāo尝cháng起qǐ来lái有yǒu奶nǎi酪lào的de味wèi道dào。
This cake has a cheesy taste.
奶nǎi酪lào是shì用yòng奶nǎi做zuò成chéng的de。
Cheese is made from milk.
奶nǎi酪lào不bú是shì黄huáng色sè的de。
The cheese is not yellow.

Questions about 酪

How many strokes are in 酪?

酪 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 酪 mean?

酪 (lào) means cream, cheese; koumiss. A common word with it is 奶酪 (nǎilào), meaning "cheese".

How do you pronounce 酪?

酪 is pronounced lào, in the fourth tone (falling).

What is the radical of 酪?

The radical of 酪 is 酉, which carries the idea of "wine". Dictionaries list 酪 under this radical.

What is the difference between 奶酪, 乳酪 and 干酪?

All three can mean cheese. 奶酪 is the most common everyday word, 乳酪 sounds a bit more formal and is common in Taiwan, and 干酪 usually means hard, dry cheese.

Does 酪 always refer to dairy food?

No. It can also name sweet pastes or jellies made from fruit or crushed nuts, like 杏仁酪 (xìngrénlào) almond paste or 核桃酪 (hétaolào) walnut paste.