Meaning of 料
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- material
- stuff
- grain
- feed
- to expect
- to anticipate
- to guess
How to use 料
In modern Chinese, 料 (liào) mostly appears inside compound words for materials, such as 材料 (cáiliào), 资料 (zīliào), 原料 (yuánliào) and 塑料 (sùliào). The verb meaning "to expect" shows up in set phrases like 没料到 (méi liàodào). Example: 我没料到他会来。(Wǒ méi liàodào tā huì lái.) I didn't expect him to come.
料 is made of 米 (mǐ, rice) on the left and 斗 (dǒu, a grain measure) on the right. Picture someone scooping rice with a measuring cup to see how much stuff they have, which links to both "material" and "estimating."
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 料 with 科 (kē, branch of study), since both have a grain-related left side. 料 uses 米 (rice) and 科 uses 禾 (grain plant), so check the left part carefully.
料 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
料 liào · material · 10 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 料.
| 资料 | zīliào | material; resources |
| 材料 | cáiliào | (raw) material; data |
| 燃料 | ránliào | fuel |
| 塑料 | sùliào | plastic; plastics (general term for synthetic polymer materials) |
| 原料 | yuánliào | raw material |
| 塑料袋 | sùliàodài | plastic bag |
| 饮料 | yǐnliào | drink; beverage |
| 不料 | bùliào | unexpectedly; to one's surprise |
| 料到 | liàodào | to foresee; to anticipate |
| 料理 | liàolǐ | to arrange; to handle |
| 照料 | zhàoliào | to tend; to take care of sb |
| 预料 | yùliào | to forecast; to anticipate |
Questions about 料
What does 料 mean?
料 (liào) means "material; stuff" and is used as a verb and noun.
How do you write 料?
料 is made of 1 character: 料 (10 strokes). That is 10 strokes in total.
Is 料 an HSK word?
Yes. 料 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 资料 and 材料?
资料 (zīliào) usually means information, documents or reference material. 材料 (cáiliào) can mean physical raw materials, but it also covers paperwork you submit, like application documents.
Can 料 be used alone as a noun?
Yes, in casual speech it can mean ingredients or seasoning, as in 加料 (jiā liào, add extra toppings). It can also describe someone's potential, as in 他不是学习的料 (He is not cut out for studying).