啦 (la): sentence-final particle, contraction of 了啊, indicating exclamation, particle placed after each item in a list of examples, (onom.) sound of singing, cheering etc, (phonetic), (dialect) to chat
啦 (la) is a Chinese character meaning “sentence-final particle, contraction of 了啊, indicating exclamation.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 拉 (phonetic). It ranks #1190 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 啦 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
- sentence-final particle, contraction of 了啊, indicating exclamation
- particle placed after each item in a list of examples
- (onom.) sound of singing, cheering etc
- (phonetic)
- (dialect) to chat
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 啦 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 啦啦队noun | lā lā duì | cheerleading squad |
| 哗啦 | huā lā | (onom.) sound of a crash |
| 哗啦啦interjection | huā lā lā | (onom.) crashing sound |
| 呼啦啦 | hū lā lā | flapping sound |
| 啦啦队长 | lā lā duì zhǎng | cheerleader |
| 吧啦吧啦 | bā lā bā lā | (loanword) blah blah blah |
| 卡啦 | kǎ lā | crispy, deep-fried (variant of 卡拉) |
| 哗啦一声 | huā lā yī shēng | with a crash |
| 呼啦圈noun | hū lā quān | hula hoop (loanword) |
| 噼里啪啦adjective | pī li pā lā | (onom.) crackling of firecrackers |
| 稀里哗啦adjective | xī li huā lā | (onom.) chaotic or dynamic noises (pattering, crashing, rustling, clattering, sobbing etc) |
| 劈里啪啦adjective | pī li pā lā | variant of 噼里啪啦 |
| 唏里哗啦 | xī li huā lā | variant of 稀里嘩啦|稀里哗啦 |
| 批哩啪啦 | pī li pā lā | variant of 噼里啪啦 |
| 嘎啦noun | gā la | (onom.) rumbling |
啦 appears in 26 compound words: 12 as the first character, 54 as the last, and 35 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 啦 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (3)
Showing 2 of 3 idioms containing 啦.
Example Sentences
妈妈啦嘱我要按时吃饭，注意身体健康。
mā mā lā zhǔ wǒ yāo àn shí chī fàn , zhù yì shēn tī jiàn kāng .
Mom reminded me to eat on time and take care of my health.
【厝内大小事】知路/红包开溜啦!呼叫福气侦探队
厝 nèi dà xiǎo shì zhī lù hóng bāo kāi liū lā ! hū jiào fú qì zhēn tàn duì
【Big and Small Things in the House】Know the Road/Red Envelope Open It! Call the Blessing Detectives
啦啦队女神“牛奶”车底发现不明物体 去车行...
lā lā duì nǚ shén niú nǎi chē de fā xiàn bù míng wù tǐ qù chē háng . . .
Cheerleading goddess "Milk" found an unknown object under the car and went to the car dealership...
乐天女孩拼了!传升级韩籍啦啦队6本柱 规模称霸联盟剑指天花板
lè tiān nǚ hái pīn le ! chuán shēng jí hán jí lā lā duì 6 běn zhù guī mó chèn bà lián méng jiàn zhǐ tiān huā bǎn
Lotte girls fight! Pass and upgrade the Korean cheerleading team 6 pillars to dominate the league on a large scale
中职/啦啦队战火再升级!朴星垠传加盟富邦携李珠珢
zhōng zhí lā lā duì zhàn huǒ zài shēng jí ! pǔ xīng 垠 chuán jiā méng fù bāng xié lǐ zhū 珢
The war between secondary vocational schools/cheerleaders has escalated again! Park Xingyin is rumored to join Fubon with Li Zhujun
这谁要啦?马年刮刮乐送“小强标本”引热议 台北动...
zhè shéi yāo lā ? mǎ nián guā guā lè sòng xiǎo qiáng biāo běn yǐn rè yì tái běi dòng . . .
Who wants this? The Year of the Horse scratch card sends "Xiaoqiang specimens" to arouse heated discussions in Taipei...
你仔细看看，太新鲜啦！
Nǐ zǐxì kànkan, tài xīnxiān lā!
Take a good look, it's really fresh!
我当然有资格这么说啦。
Wǒ dāngrán yǒuzīgé zhème shuō lā.
I am certainly entitled to speak like this.
那我就恭敬不如从命啦。
Nà wǒ jiù gōngjìngbùrúcóngmìng lā.
Then I'll work on the principle that deference is no substitute for obedience.
别用怨恨的眼神看我啦。
Bié yòng yuànhèn de yǎnshén kàn wǒ lā.
Stop giving me such a venomous look.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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