餌 meaning and stroke order
Bait; cake; dumplings; to bait, to entice
How to write 餌, stroke by stroke
14 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 餌
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- pastry
- food
- to swallow
- to lure
- bait
- lure
How 餌 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Food.
飠 gives the meaning and 耳 hints at the sound.
Radical: 飠 (food), shared by 44 characters on this site.
How to remember 餌
The food radical 飠 on the left tells you this is about something to eat, and 耳 (ěr, ear) on the right gives the sound. Picture a tasty morsel dangled near a fish's ear to tempt it.
In modern Chinese 餌 (simplified 饵) mostly means bait, either literally for fishing or figuratively as a lure or trap. It usually appears in compounds rather than alone. Example: 他用虫子做鱼饵。(Tā yòng chóngzi zuò yú'ěr.) He used worms as fish bait.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 餌 (ěr) with 耳 (ěr, ear) because they sound the same, and forget to add the food radical when writing it. Also note the simplified form is 饵, so in mainland texts you will see 诱饵 rather than 誘餌.
Common words with 餌
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 誘餌 | yòu'ěr | bait | HSK 7-9 |
| 魚餌 | yú'ěr | fish bait |
Questions about 餌
How many strokes are in 餌?
餌 is written with 14 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 餌 mean?
餌 (ěr) means bait; cake; dumplings; to bait, to entice. A common word with it is 诱饵 (yòu'ěr), meaning "bait".
How do you pronounce 餌?
餌 is pronounced ěr, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 餌?
The radical of 餌 is 飠, which carries the idea of "food". Dictionaries list 餌 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 餌?
餌 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 饵, used in mainland China and Singapore.
Can 饵 be used as a verb meaning to lure someone?
Yes, in classical and literary Chinese 餌 can mean to entice, as in 饵以重利 (ěr yǐ zhòng lì), to lure with big profits. In everyday modern speech people use 引诱 (yǐnyòu) or 诱惑 (yòuhuò) instead.
Does 饵 still mean cake or dumpling in modern Chinese?
Mostly not, though it survives in some regional food names. A well-known example is 饵块 (ěrkuài), a rice cake from Yunnan.