乐 (lè): happy, cheerful, to laugh

乐 (lè) is a Chinese character meaning “happy.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 丿 (structural) and 小 (structural). It ranks #619 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 乐 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 么 (me, suffix used in 什么 (what), 这么 (so), 怎么 (how) etc), 久 (jiǔ, (of a period of time) long), 之 (zhī, (possessive particle, literary equivalent of 的)).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. happy
  2. cheerful
  3. to laugh

Etymology & Origin

乐

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 乐

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
快乐adjectivekuài lèhappy2
音乐nounyīn yuèmusic3
俱乐部nounjù lè bù(loanword) club (the organization or its premises)6
娱乐verb/nounyú lèto entertain5
乐趣nounlè qùdelight5
欢乐adjectivehuān lègaiety6
乐观adjectivelè guānoptimistic5
乐器nounyuè qìmusical instrument6
乐于verblè yúwilling (to do sth)6
乐曲nounyuè qǔmusical composition6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
乐队nounyuè duìband
乐意verblè yìto be willing to do sth
音乐会yīn yuè huìconcert
可乐adjectivekě lèamusing
音乐剧nounyīn yuè jù(theater, cinema) a musical
乐园nounlè yuánparadise
摇滚乐nounyáo gǔn yuèrock music
音乐家yīn yuè jiāmusician
乐团nounyuè tuánband
爵士乐nounjué shì yuèjazz (loanword)
配乐nounpèi yuèto create music for a movie or stage production
玩乐verbwán lèto play around
享乐verbxiǎng lèto indulge oneself
游乐园nounyóu lè yuánamusement park
闷闷不乐phrasemèn mèn bù lèdepressed
115
Total compounds
44
As first character
47
As last character
9
As middle character

乐 appears in 115 compound words: 44 as the first character, 47 as the last, and 9 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 乐 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

娱yú
0.69633,586 co-occurrences
俱jù
0.67979,762 co-occurrences
音yīn
0.640186,949 co-occurrences
滚gǔn
0.5274,318 co-occurrences
队duì
0.52444,766 co-occurrences
摇yáo
0.5154,250 co-occurrences
刮guā
0.49746 co-occurrences
弦xián
0.4759,054 co-occurrences
团tuán
0.46420,210 co-occurrences
部bù
0.45682,856 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (54)

安贫乐道ānpínlèdàoHSK 6+

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

phrase
背景音乐bèijǐng yīnyuèHSK 4+

background music

noun
拨弦乐器bō xián yuè qìHSK 7+

plucked string or stringed instrument; plucked instrument

phrase
不亦乐乎bùyìlèhūHSK 7+

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

phrase
吃喝玩乐chīhēwánlèHSK 2+

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

phrase
儿童乐园értóng lèyuánHSK 4+

children's park

noun
古典音乐gǔdiǎn yīnyuèHSK 5+

classical music

noun
管弦乐团guǎnxián yuètuánHSK 7+

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

noun
何乐不为hélèbùwéiHSK 4+

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

phrase
忽忽不乐hū hū bù lèHSK 4+

disappointed and unhappy; dispirited

phrase
及时行乐jíshíxínglèHSK 4+

to make merry while one can; carpe diem

phrase
键盘乐器jiànpán yuèqìHSK 5+

keyboard instrument

noun

Showing 12 of 54 idioms containing 乐.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

乐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

买刮刮乐停不下来?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:倪乐琳幸保财色 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?马年刮刮乐送“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

上海乐高乐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

上海乐高乐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

你知道音乐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乐?

Nǐ xǐhuan shénme fēnggé de yīnyuè?

What kind of music do you like?

Tatoeba

加入我们的俱乐部吗?

Jiārù wǒmen de jùlèbù ma?

Will you join our club?

Tatoeba

你对音乐感不感兴趣?

Nǐ duì yīnyuè gǎn bù gǎn xìngqù?

Are you interested in music?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced lè

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 the components of 乐?
乐 is composed of: 丿 (structural), 小 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
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 115 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 乐 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.