啊 (a): exclamation
啊 (a) is a Chinese character meaning “exclamation.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 阿 (phonetic). It ranks #753 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 啊 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).
Definitions
- exclamation
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 啊 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 啊呀 | ā yā | interjection of surprise |
| 啊哟 | ā yo | interjection of surprise or pain |
| 天啊 | tiān a | good heavens! |
啊 appears in 3 compound words: 67 as the first character, 33 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 啊 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
啊！我差点忘了，下午还有一个重要的会议。
A! Wǒ chàdiǎn wàng le, xiàwǔ hái yǒu yí gè zhòngyào de huìyì.
Ah! I almost forgot, there's an important meeting this afternoon.
这手套膜到底怎么判断啊?面筋网络又是什么?
zhè shǒu tào mó dào de zěn má pàn duàn a ? miàn jīn wǎng lào yòu shì shén má ?
呛警:带枪嚣张?拔出来啊!脱序男下场曝
qiàng jǐng : dài qiāng xiāo zhāng ? bá chū lái a ! tuō xù nán xià chǎng pù
Man who taunted police: "You're acting all tough with your gun? Go ahead and draw it!" The fate of the unruly man revealed
🙏啊啊啊!!跟风买的...
a a a ! ! gēn fēng mǎi de . . .
🙏 Oh my gosh!! I just bought it on a whim...
影音/妳好高啊! “雪宝”机器人互动CNN记者 3/2...
yǐng yīn 妳 hǎo gāo a ! xuě bǎo jī qì rén hù dòng C N N jì zhě 3 2 . . .
Video/Wow, you're tall! "Olaf" robot interacts with CNN reporter 3/2...
...ㄥˋ」 正確讀音曝!家長愣:小三國語好難啊
. . . zhèng 確 讀 yīn pù ! jiā 長 lèng xiǎo sān 國 語 hǎo 難 a
...ㄥˋ」 Correct pronunciation revealed! Parents stunned: Third-grade Mandarin is so hard!
我回来了！啊？我们有客人啊？
Wǒ huílai le! ā? wǒmen yǒu kèrén ā?
I'm back! Oh? Have we got a guest?
你家好脏啊！你多久没打扫卫生？
Nǐ jiā hǎo zāng ā! nǐ duōjiǔ méi dǎsǎo wèishēng?
Your home is such a mess! When was the last time you cleaned it?
是吗？那说来听听啊！
Shì ma? nà shuō lái tīng tīng ā!
Well, say it, then!
你什么时候旅游回来的啊？
Nǐ shénmeshíhou lǚyóu huílai de ā?
When did you get back from your trip?
Character Family
Homophones — Characters pronounced a
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 啊 (a) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 啊 have?
What is the radical of 啊?
What are the components of 啊?
What are common words containing 啊?
What characters sound the same as 啊 (a)?
Is 啊 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 啊 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.