额 (é): forehead, horizontal tablet or inscribed board, specified number or amount

额 (é) is a Chinese character meaning “forehead.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 客 (phonetic) and 页 (semantic). It ranks #936 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 额 head. Its radical form 页 (page) appears in many related characters such as 页 (yè, page), 顺 (shùn, to obey), 须 (xū, must).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. forehead
  2. horizontal tablet or inscribed board
  3. specified number or amount

Etymology & Origin

额

pictophonetichead

Decomposition: ⿰客页 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Practice writing 额 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 额

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
金额nounjīn ésum of money6
名额nounmíng équota6
余额nounyú ébalance (of an account, bill etc)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
额外adjectiveé wàiextra
额头nouné tóuforehead
前额nounqián éforehead
巨额nounjù éa huge sum
数额nounshù éamount
焦头烂额phrasejiāo tóu làn élit. badly burned about the head (from trying to put out a fire) (idiom)
高额noungāo éhigh quota
销售额nounxiāo shòu ésales figure
份额nounfèn éshare
额度nouné dùquota
全额nounquán éthe full amount
总额nounzǒng étotal (amount or value)
限额nounxiàn équota
配额nounpèi équota
营业额nounyíng yè ésum or volume of business
100
Total compounds
25
As first character
43
As last character
32
As middle character

额 appears in 100 compound words: 25 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 32 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 额 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

债zhài
0.6044,000 co-occurrences
总zǒng
0.54320,352 co-occurrences
赔péi
0.472786 co-occurrences
巨jù
0.4513,720 co-occurrences
贸mào
0.4501,646 co-occurrences
贷dài
0.439824 co-occurrences
贿huì
0.433514 co-occurrences
赂lù
0.433242 co-occurrences
税shuì
0.4311,524 co-occurrences
营yíng
0.4294,106 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

差额选举chā'é xuǎnjǔHSK 6+

competitive election

noun
额济纳河é jì nà héHSK 6+

Ejin River in Alxa League 阿拉善盟, Inner Mongolia

phrase
焦头烂额jiāotóulàn'éHSK 6+

to be scorched by the flames; in a sorry plight; hard-pressed; overwrought; in trouble; overwhelmed

phrase
加俾额尔Jiābǐ'é'ěrHSK 6+

Gabriel (archangel)

Showing 4 of 5 idioms containing 额.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了解额字的来源,有助于理解中国文化。

le xiè é zì de lái yuán , yǒu zhù yú lǐ xiè zhōng guó wén huā .

Understanding the origin of the character "额" helps to comprehend Chinese culture.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...天价1,965元、大涨65元 单日上涨金额追平历史第三大纪录

. . . tiān jià 1 , 9 6 5 yuán , dà zhǎng 6 5 yuán dān rì shàng zhǎng jīn é zhuī píng lì shǐ dì sān dà jì lù

... The sky-high price was 1,965 yuan, up 65 yuan, and the single-day increase equaled the third largest record in history

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

2025年德国电气与电子行业出口额创历史新高

2 0 2 5 nián dé guó diàn qì yǔ diàn zǐ háng yè chū kǒu é chuàng lì shǐ xīn gāo

In 2025, Germany's electrical and electronics industry exports will reach a record high

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...国家将被加重关税 参院提案限180天内全额退款

. . . guó jiā jiāng bèi jiā chóng guān shuì cān yuàn tí àn xiàn 1 8 0 tiān nèi quán é tuì kuǎn

... The country will be subject to increased tariffs The Senate proposal limits full refunds within 180 days

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

业界倡上调基本免税额一成 预算案料难大派糖 吁多照顾打工仔

yè jiè chàng shàng diào jī běn miǎn shuì é yī chéng yù suàn àn liào nán dà pài táng xū duō zhào gù dǎ gōng zǐ

The industry advocates raising the basic tax allowance by 10%, and the budget is expected to be difficult to distribute sugar and call for more care for workers

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

欧股强势 吸金额挑战新高...投资人看好欧洲经济

ōu gǔ qiáng shì xī jīn é tiāo zhàn xīn gāo . . . tóu zī rén kàn hǎo ōu zhōu jīng jì

European stocks are strong and challenge new highs... Investors are optimistic about the European economy

Tatoeba

帐单金额高达100美元。

Zhàngdān jīn'é gāodá 100 Měiyuán.

The bill amounted to 100 dollars.

Tatoeba

最近,来自亚洲各国的进口额不断扩大。

Zuì jìn, láizì Yàzhōu gèguó de jìnkǒu é bù duàn kuòdà.

The imports from Asian countries have expanded recently.

Tatoeba

我太太兼职的工作赚进了一些额外的钱。

Wǒ tàitai jiānzhí de gōngzuò zhuàn jìn le yīxiē éwài de qián.

My wife's part-time job brings in a little extra money.

Tatoeba

这家公司去年获得显著的营业额增长。

Zhè jiā gōngsī qùnián huòdé xiǎnzhù de yíngyè'é zēngzhǎng.

This company achieved a remarkable increase in turnover last year.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 页 (head) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced é

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 额 (é) mean in Chinese?
额 (é) primarily means "forehead." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #936 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 额 and 喀?
额 (é) and 喀 (kā) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 页 vs 口 (same 客 component).
How many strokes does 额 have?
额 is written with 15 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 额?
The radical associated with 额 is 页 (page). This radical appears in many characters related to page.
What are the components of 额?
额 is composed of: 客 (phonetic), 页 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰客页 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 额?
Common words with 额 include: 额外 (é wài, "extra"); 额头 (é tóu, "forehead"); 金额 (jīn é, "sum of money"); 前额 (qián é, "forehead"); 巨额 (jù é, "a huge sum"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 额 (é)?
Several characters share the pronunciation é: 恶 (evil), 俄 (Russia), 饿 (hungry), 鹅 (goose), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 额 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 额 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 额 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.