饿 (è): hungry
饿 (è) is a Chinese character meaning “hungry.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 饣 (structural) and 我 (structural). It ranks #1889 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 饿 to want 我 food 饣; 我 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 饣 (eat) appears in many related characters such as 饭 (fàn, meal, rice), 馆 (guǎn, restaurant, hall), 食 (shí, to eat).
Definitions
- hungry
Etymology & Origin
ideographicTo want 我 food 饣; 我 also provides the pronunciation
Decomposition: ⿰饣我 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 饿 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 饿
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 挨饿 | ái è | to go hungry |
| 撑死胆大的，饿死胆小的 | chēng sǐ dǎn dà de , è sǐ dǎn xiǎo de | fullness for the bold, famine for the timid (idiom) |
| 饱人不知饿人饥 | bǎo rén bù zhī è rén jī | The well-fed cannot know how the starving suffer (idiom). |
| 老天爷饿不死瞎家雀 | lǎo tiān yé è bù sǐ xiā jiā què | lit. heaven won't let the sparrows go hungry (idiom) |
| 解饿 | jiě è | to relieve hunger |
| 饿死 | è sǐ | to starve to death |
| 饱汉不知饿汉饥 | bǎo hàn bù zhī è hàn jī | The well-fed cannot know how the starving suffer (idiom). |
| 饿肚子 | è dù zi | to go hungry |
| 饿莩载道 | è piǎo zài dào | starved corpses fill the roads (idiom) |
| 饿殍载道 | è piǎo zài dào | starved corpses fill the roads (idiom) |
| 饿鬼 | è guǐ | sb who is always hungry |
| 饿虎扑食 | è hǔ pū shí | like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey |
| 饿莩遍野 | è piǎo biàn yě | starving people everywhere (idiom) |
| 挨饿受冻 | ái è shòu dòng | (idiom) to go cold and hungry |
| 挨冻受饿 | ái dòng shòu è | see 挨餓受凍|挨饿受冻[ai2 e4 shou4 dong4] |
饿 appears in 22 compound words: 41 as the first character, 36 as the last, and 23 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 饿 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (4)
Example Sentences
工作了一上午，我现在很饿，想吃点东西。
Gōngzuò le yí shàngwǔ, wǒ xiànzài hěn è, xiǎng chī diǎn dōngxi.
After working all morning, I'm very hungry now and want to eat something.
伊朗战争|化肥短缺威胁粮食安全 饥饿人口恐创新高
yī lǎng zhàn zhēng huà féi duǎn quē wēi xié liáng shí ān quán jī è rén kǒu kǒng chuàng xīn gāo
...验尸庭揭女儿死时仅重24公斤 疑在父亡后饿死家中
. . . yàn shī tíng jiē nǚ ér sǐ shí jǐn chóng 2 4 gōng jīn yí zài fù wáng hòu è sǐ jiā zhōng
《饿狼传说:群狼之城》“拳四郎”先导预告
è láng chuán shuō : qún láng zhī chéng quán sì láng xiān dǎo yù gào
成军24年5566参演《饥饿游戏》 意外“撞车”跌倒惨被嘲“碰瓷”
chéng jūn 2 4 nián 5 5 6 6 cān yǎn jī è yóu xì yì wài zhuàng chē diē dǎo cǎn bèi cháo pèng cí
After 24 Years in the Industry, 5566 Appears in *The Hunger Games*; Unexpected "Collision" Leads to Fall, Sparking Ridicule Over "Staged Accident"
蛋糕？我突然又饿了！
Dàngāo? wǒ tūrán yòu è le!
Cake? I'm suddenly hungry again.
可以给我一点吃的吗？我快饿疯了啦。
Kěyǐ gěi wǒ yīdiǎn chī de ma? wǒ kuài è fēng le lā.
Please give me something to eat. I am so hungry.
我好饿，什么时候可以去吃中饭？
Wǒ hǎo è, shénmeshíhou kěyǐ qù chī zhōngfàn?
I'm pretty hungry. When can we go have lunch?
你知不知道全世界每年有多少人饿死呀？
Nǐ zhī bù zhīdào quán shìjiè měi nián yǒu duōshao rén èsǐ ya?
Do you know how many people starve to death in the world annually?
我回到家的时候，感觉非常饿。
Wǒ huídào jiā de shíhou, gǎnjué fēicháng è.
When I got home, I was very hungry.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 饿 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 饿 with real-time feedback
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