(): happy, cheerful, to laugh

() is a Chinese character meaning “happy.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical 丿 (slash). It ranks #619 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, simplified form of 樂, a musical instrument with wood 木, strings 幺, and a pick 白. Its radical form 丿 (slash) appears in many related characters such as (, exclamatory final particle), (jiǔ, (of a period of time) long), (zhī, (possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的)).

Native pronunciation
HSK 2Radical: 丿 slash5 strokesFrequency #619

Definitions

  1. happy
  2. cheerful
  3. to laugh

Etymology & Origin

ideographicSimplified form of 樂, a musical instrument with wood 木, strings 幺, and a pick 白

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
adjectivekuài lèhappy2
nounyīn yuèmusic3
nounjù lè bù(loanword) club (the organization or its premises)6
verb/nounyú lèto entertain5
nounlè qùdelight5
adjectivehuān lègaiety6
adjectivelè guānoptimistic5
nounyuè qìmusical instrument6
verblè yúwilling (to do sth)6
nounyuè qǔmusical composition6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
yuè duìband
lè yìto be willing to do sth
kě lèamusing
lè yuánparadise
yuè tuánband
pèi yuèto create music for a movie or stage production
wán lèto play around
xiǎng lèto enjoy life
yuè shǒuinstrumental performer
yuè pǔa musical score
shēng yuèvocal music
dòu lèto amuse oneself
qǔ lèto find amusement
lè ānsee 樂安縣|乐安县[Le4 an1 Xian4]
lè tǔhappy place
100
Total compounds
50
As first character
49
As last character
1
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 50 as the first character, 49 as the last, and 1 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.751100,610 co-occurrences
0.748239,200 co-occurrences
yīn
0.691560,194 co-occurrences
xián
0.54227,141 co-occurrences
duì
0.532134,298 co-occurrences
gǔn
0.53012,962 co-occurrences
yáo
0.52312,750 co-occurrences
tuán
0.47160,630 co-occurrences
0.463248,568 co-occurrences
huān
0.46216,554 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (53)

ānpínlèdàoHSK 6+

to be contented with living in poverty and take delight in abiding by moral principles

phrase
bèijǐng yīnyuèHSK 4+

background music

noun
bō xián yuè qìHSK 7+

plucked string or stringed instrument; plucked instrument

phrase
bùyìlèhūHSK 7+

Isn't it a pleasure (to ...)?; to a great extent; extremely; very; awfully

phrase
chīhēwánlèHSK 2+

to eat, drink and be merry; to seek pleasure instead of doing work

phrase
értóng lèyuánHSK 4+

children's park

noun
gǔdiǎn yīnyuèHSK 5+

classical music

noun
guǎnxián yuètuánHSK 7+

orchestra (large group of musicians who play together on various instruments)

noun
hélèbùwéiHSK 4+

why not do it?; what is there against it?

phrase
hū hū bù lèHSK 4+

disappointed and unhappy; dispirited

phrase
jíshíxínglèHSK 4+

to make merry while one can; carpe diem

phrase
jiànpán yuèqìHSK 5+

keyboard instrument

noun

Showing 12 of 53 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字在日常生活中使用频率很高。

lè zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ hěn gāo .

The character "乐" is used very frequently in daily life.

TvbsFeb 2026

买刮刮停不下来?4星座“赌性超强” 牡羊先冲再...

mǎi guā guā lè tíng bù xià lái ? 4 xīng zuò dǔ xìng chāo qiáng mǔ yáng xiān chōng zài . . .

Can't stop buying scratch cards? 4 constellations "super gambling" Aries rush first and then ...

東方日報Feb 2026

东方日报C1:倪琳幸保财色 心郁改名转运

dōng fāng rì bào C 1 : 倪 lè 琳 xìng bǎo cái sè xīn yù gǎi míng zhuǎn yùn

Oriental Daily C1: Ni Lelin is lucky to protect her wealth and change her name to transfer

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

这谁要啦?马年刮刮送“小强标本”引热议 台北动物园:限量纪...

zhè shéi yāo lā ? mǎ nián guā guā lè sòng xiǎo qiáng biāo běn yǐn rè yì tái běi dòng wù yuán : xiàn liàng jì . . .

Who wants this? The Year of the Horse scratch-off gift "Xiaoqiang specimen" sparked heated discussions Taipei Zoo: Limited edition...

百度新闻Feb 2026

上海园度假区首个春节表现亮眼,成亲子家庭...

shàng hǎi lè gāo lè yuán dù jiǎ qū shǒu gè chūn jié biǎo xiàn liàng yǎn , chéng qīn zǐ jiā tíng . . .

Shanghai Legoland Resort's first Spring Festival performance was eye-catching, and it became a parent-child family...

百度新闻Feb 2026

上海园迎开园后首个春节假期,正月初三刷新...

shàng hǎi lè gāo lè yuán yíng kāi yuán hòu shǒu gè chūn jié jiǎ qī , zhèng yuè chū sān shuā xīn . . .

Shanghai Legoland welcomed the first Spring Festival holiday after the opening of the park, and the third day of the first lunar month was refreshed...

Tatoeba

你知道音家什么时候来这儿吗?

Nǐ zhīdào yīnyuèjiā shénme shíhou lái zhèr ma?

Do you know when the musician will come here?

Tatoeba

你喜欢什么风格的音

Nǐ xǐhuan shénme fēnggé de yīnyuè?

What kind of music do you like?

Tatoeba

加入我们的俱部吗?

Jiārù wǒmen de jùlèbù ma?

Will you join our club?

Tatoeba

你对音感不感兴趣?

Nǐ duì yīnyuè gǎn bù gǎn xìngqù?

Are you interested in music?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 乐 (lè) mean in Chinese?
乐 (lè) primarily means "happy." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #619 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 乐 and 悄?
乐 (lè) and 悄 (qiǎo) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 乐 (happy) vs 悄 (sad).
How many strokes does 乐 have?
乐 is written with 5 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 乐?
The radical associated with 乐 is 丿 (slash). This radical appears in many characters related to slash.
What are common words containing 乐?
Common words with 乐 include: 快乐 (kuài lè, "happy"); 音乐 (yīn yuè, "music"); 俱乐部 (jù lè bù, "(loanword) club (the organization or its premises)"); 乐队 (yuè duì, "band"); 乐意 (lè yì, "to be willing to do sth"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 乐 (lè)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lè: 了 ((completed action marker)), 勒 ((literary) bridle). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 乐 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 乐 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.