厄 (è): distressed

厄 (è) is a Chinese character meaning “distressed.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 厂 (structural) and 㔾 (structural). It ranks #2330 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 厄 a person 㔾 being crushed under pressure 厂. Its radical form 厂 (cliff) appears in many related characters such as 原 (yuán, former), 厂 (chǎng, factory), 历 (lì, to experience).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. distressed

Etymology & Origin

厄

ideographicA person 㔾 being crushed under pressure 厂

Decomposition: ⿸厂㔾 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
厄运è yùnbad luck
厄瓜多尔proper-nounè guā duō ěrEcuador
厄立特里亚proper-nounè lì tè lǐ yàEritrea
厄尔尼诺nounè ěr ní nuò(meteorology) El Niño
困厄nounkùn èin deep water
厄洛斯è luò sīEros (Cupid)
厄尔尼诺现象nounè ěr ní nuò xiàn xiàngEl Niño effect, equatorial climatic variation over the Pacific Ocean
厄尔布鲁士è ěr bù lǔ shì(Mount) Elbrus, the highest peak of the Caucasus mountains, southwest Russia
卡尔斯鲁厄proper-nounkǎ ěr sī lǔ èKarlsruhe (city in Germany)
弗莱威厄斯fú lái wēi è sīFlavius (Roman historian of 1st century AD)
约翰·厄普代克yuē hàn · è pǔ dài kèJohn Updike, US novelist (1932-2009), Pulitzer Prize winner
尼厄丽德ní è lì déNereids (Greek sea nymphs, fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris)
基拉韦厄jī lā wéi èKilauea, Hawaii, the world's most active volcano
厄什塔è shén tǎØrsta (city in Norway)
厄利垂亚proper-nounè lì chuí yàEritrea (Tw)
23
Total compounds
61
As first character
22
As last character
17
As middle character

厄 appears in 23 compound words: 61 as the first character, 22 as the last, and 17 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 厄 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

瓜guā
0.5765,594 co-occurrences
尔ěr
0.51826,231 co-occurrences
天tiān
0.48815,866 co-occurrences
姆mǔ
0.4754,392 co-occurrences
文wén
0.45116,532 co-occurrences
鲁lǔ
0.4362,172 co-occurrences
斯sī
0.4019,166 co-occurrences
畔pàn
0.398552 co-occurrences
雷léi
0.3832,280 co-occurrences
尼ní
0.3752,629 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

厄瓜多尔Èguāduō'ěrHSK 7+

Ecuador (a country in South America)

厄利垂亚ÈlìchuíyàHSK 7+

Eritrea

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习厄字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí è zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Mastering the character "厄" requires repeated practice to write it neatly.

奇客SolidotAug 2026

气候变暖放大东太平洋的厄尔尼诺变率

qì hòu biàn nuǎn fàng dà dōng tài píng yáng de è ěr ní nuò biàn lǜ

Global Warming Amplifies El Niño Variability in the Eastern Pacific

Mix ValeApr 2026

...束,太平洋可能在2026年进入中立状态,厄尔尼诺现象可能出现

. . . shù , tài píng yáng kě néng zài 2 0 2 6 nián jìn rù zhōng lì zhuàng tài , è ěr ní nuò xiàn xiàng kě néng chū xiàn

...By 2026, the Pacific Ocean may enter a neutral state, and an El Niño event may occur

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Mar 2026

【器乐独奏与协奏曲】维厄当A小调第五号小提琴协奏曲,作品37号

qì lè dú zòu yǔ xié zòu qū wéi è dāng A xiǎo diào dì wǔ hào xiǎo tí qín xié zòu qū , zuò pǐn 3 7 hào

[Instrumental Solos and Concertos] Viardot: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A minor, Op. 37

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Mar 2026

今年春季后期或进入厄尔尼诺状态 今明年夏天真的会更热吗?

jīn nián chūn jì hòu qī huò jìn rù è ěr ní nuò zhuàng tài jīn míng nián xià tiān zhēn de huì gēng rè ma ?

Will an El Niño event develop in late spring this year? Will this summer and next summer really be hotter?

Investing 香港Feb 2026

哥伦比亚对厄瓜多商品征收30%关税 贸易争端升级

gē lún bǐ yà duì è guā duō shāng pǐn zhēng shōu 3 0 guān shuì mào yì zhēng duān shēng jí

Colombia imposes 30% tariff on Ecuadorian goods as trade dispute escalates

Tatoeba

格雷厄姆葛林是我最喜欢的作家之一。

Géléi è mǔ gé lín shì wǒ zuì xǐhuan de zuòjiā zhīyī.

Graham Greene is a favorite author of mine.

Tatoeba

梅苏特·厄齐尔是世界上最好的中场之一。

Méi sū tè · è qí ěr shì shìjiè shàng zuì hǎo de zhōngchǎng zhīyī.

Mesut Ozil is one of the best midfielders in the world.

Tatoeba

我不相信黑猫与厄运有关系。

Wǒ bù xiāngxìn hēi māo yǔ èyùn yǒuguān xì.

I don't believe black cats cause bad luck.

Tatoeba

他们向西北方向进军,进入了谢南多厄河谷。

Tāmen xiàngxī běifāng xiàng jìnjūn, jìnrù le xiè nán duō è hégǔ.

They marched northwest into the Shenandoah Valley.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced è

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 厄 (è) mean in Chinese?
厄 (è) primarily means "distressed." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2330 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 厄 have?
厄 is written with 4 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 厄?
The radical associated with 厄 is 厂 (cliff). This radical appears in many characters related to cliff.
What are the components of 厄?
厄 is composed of: 厂 (structural), 㔾 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸厂㔾 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 厄?
Common words with 厄 include: 厄运 (è yùn, "bad luck"); 厄瓜多尔 (è guā duō ěr, "Ecuador"); 厄立特里亚 (è lì tè lǐ yà, "Eritrea"); 厄尔尼诺 (è ěr ní nuò, "(meteorology) El Niño"); 困厄 (kùn è, "in deep water"). There are over 23 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 厄 (è)?
Several characters share the pronunciation è: 恶 (evil), 额 (forehead), 俄 (Russia), 饿 (hungry), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 厄 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 厄 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 厄 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.