鴨 meaning and stroke order
Duck; Anas species (various)
How to write 鴨, stroke by stroke
16 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
Meaning of 鴨
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- duck (CL:隻|只[zhi1])
- (slang) male prostitute
How 鴨 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Bird.
鳥 gives the meaning and 甲 hints at the sound.
Radical: 鳥 (bird), shared by 78 characters on this site.
How to remember 鴨
鴨 (yā) puts 甲 (jiǎ) next to 鳥 (niǎo, bird). The bird part tells you it is a bird, and 甲 gives a hint of the sound, so picture a bird that quacks "yā yā."
In speech people usually say 鸭子 (yāzi) for a live duck, while 鸭 alone appears in food names and compounds. 我们去吃北京烤鸭吧。(Wǒmen qù chī Běijīng kǎoyā ba.) Let's go eat Peking roast duck.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes read the phonetic 甲 too literally and say jiǎ, but the character is read yā in the first tone. Also be careful with 鸭子 in some contexts, since it can be slang for a male prostitute, so 鸭 alone in food words like 烤鸭 is safer.
Common words with 鴨
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
Questions about 鴨
How many strokes are in 鴨?
鴨 is written with 16 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 鴨 mean?
鴨 (yā) means duck; Anas species (various). A common word with it is 鸭子 (yāzi), meaning "duck (CL:隻|只[zhi1]); (slang) male prostitute".
How do you pronounce 鴨?
鴨 is pronounced yā, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 鴨?
The radical of 鴨 is 鳥, which carries the idea of "bird". Dictionaries list 鴨 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 鴨?
鴨 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 鸭, used in mainland China and Singapore.
What measure word goes with duck in Chinese?
Use 只 (zhī), traditional 隻. For example, 一只鸭子 (yì zhī yāzi) means one duck.
Why does 鴨 look different from 鸭?
鴨 is the traditional form and 鸭 is the simplified form used in mainland China. The only change is that the bird component 鳥 is simplified to 鸟. The meaning and pronunciation are the same.