腰 meaning in English

yāo

the waist and lower back; (bound form) kidney of an animal (as food)

HSK 4noun13 strokes

Meaning of 腰

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

yāo

the waist and lower back
(bound form) kidney of an animal (as food)
the waist of trousers or a skirt
(metonym) money pouch; pocket
(bound form) the middle section of an upright object (mountain, bottle etc)

How to use 腰

腰 (yāo) means the waist or lower back, and it also names the middle part of things, like 山腰 (shānyāo), halfway up a mountain. It often appears in compounds such as 腰带 (yāodài, belt) and 弯腰 (wānyāo, to bend down). Example: 我腰疼。(Wǒ yāo téng.) My lower back hurts.

腰 is built from 月 (the flesh radical, used for body parts) and 要 (yào), which gives the sound. Think of the waist as the most important (要) part of the body (月) that holds everything together.

Common mistake: Learners often write 要 (yào) instead of 腰 because they sound alike. Remember that the body part needs the 月 radical on the left, and the tone is first tone yāo, not fourth tone like 要.

腰 in example sentences

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

我wǒ们men爬pá到dào了le半bàn山shān腰yāo。

We went halfway up the mountain.

这zhè条tiáo腰yāo带dài对duì我wǒ来lái说shuō成chéng为wéi了le恐kǒng惧jù的de象xiàng征zhēng。

The belt became a symbol of fear for me.

你nǐ认rèn为wéi汤tāng姆mǔ的de腰yāo围wéi是shì多duō少shǎo？

What do you think Tom's waist size is?

他tā从cóng腰yāo部bù到dào膝xī盖gài都dōu湿shī了le。

He got wet from the waist to the knees.

汤tāng姆mǔ取qǔ下xià了le他tā的de腰yāo带dài。

Tom took off his belt.

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

腰 yāo · the waist and lower back · 13 strokes

Related words

Words that share a character with 腰.

腰带	yāodài	belt
弯腰	wānyāo	to stoop
腰部	yāobù	waist; small of the back
下腰	xiàyāo	(gymnastics) to do a bridge; to do a crab
腰包	yāobāo	waist purse (old); (fig.) purse
撑腰	chēngyāo	to support; to brace

Questions about 腰

What does 腰 mean?

腰 (yāo) means "the waist and lower back; (bound form) kidney of an animal (as food)" and is used as a noun.

How do you write 腰?

腰 is made of 1 character: 腰 (13 strokes). That is 13 strokes in total.

Is 腰 an HSK word?

Yes. 腰 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

Does 腰疼 mean waist pain or back pain?

In everyday Chinese, 腰疼 (yāo téng) usually means lower back pain. It is the normal way to say your lower back hurts. For the upper back you would say 背疼 (bèi téng).

What does 撑腰 mean?

撑腰 (chēngyāo) literally means to prop up someone's waist. Figuratively it means to back someone up or support them, often in a conflict. For example, 有人给他撑腰 means someone is backing him.