寥 (liáo): few, sparse

寥 (liáo) is a Chinese character meaning “few, sparse.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 宀 (semantic) and 翏 (phonetic). It ranks #2805 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 寥 roof. Its radical form 宀 (roof) appears in many related characters such as 客 (kè, guest, customer), 家 (jiā, home, family), 它 (tā, it).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 宀 roof14 strokesFrequency #2805宀 semantic翏 phonetic

Definitions

  1. few, sparse

Etymology & Origin

寥

pictophoneticroof

Decomposition: ⿱宀翏 (layout: top-bottom)

Components:宀semantic翏phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
寥寥无几liáo liáo wú jǐ(idiom) very few
寥寥liáo liáovery few
寂寥jì liáo(literary) quiet and desolate
寥若晨星liáo ruò chén xīngrare as morning stars (idiom)
寥寥可数liáo liáo kě shǔ(idiom) very few
寥落liáo luòsparse
寥廓liáo kuò(literary) vast
7
Total compounds
86
As first character
14
As last character
0
As middle character

寥 appears in 7 compound words: 86 as the first character, 14 as the last, and 0 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 寥 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

寂jì
0.5731,020 co-occurrences
几jī
0.5292,340 co-occurrences
廓kuò
0.464198 co-occurrences
无wú
0.4491,920 co-occurrences
只zhī
0.361864 co-occurrences
句jù
0.359186 co-occurrences
数shǔ
0.343780 co-occurrences
笔bǐ
0.34290 co-occurrences
可kě
0.3241,308 co-occurrences
却què
0.321108 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

寥寥可数liáoliáokěshǔHSK 7+

very few

phrase
寥寥无几liáoliáowújǐHSK 7+

very few

phrase
寥若晨星liáoruòchénxīngHSK 7+

very few; as few as the stars at dawn

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个地区的居民很寥寥，大部分年轻人都外出打工了。

Zhè gè dìqū de jūmín hěn liáoliáo, dàbùfen niánqīng rén dōu wàichū dǎgōng le.

The residents in this area are sparse; most young people have gone to work outside.

Tatoeba

值得观看的电视节目寥寥无几。

Zhíde guānkàn de diànshìjiémù liáoliáowújǐ.

Only a few TV programs are worth watching.

Character Family

宀 Radical Family — Characters sharing the roof radical

察chá宠chǒng富fù宫gōng宏hóng寂jì寄jì家jiā宽kuān寞mò

Related Characters

客kè家jiā它tā安ān完wán定dìng宜yí实shí室shì宣xuān

Homophones — Characters pronounced liáo

辽liáo疗liáo聊liáo僚liáo料liào

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 寥 (liáo) mean in Chinese?
寥 (liáo) primarily means "few, sparse." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2805 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 寥 and 谬?
寥 (liáo) and 谬 (miù) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 宀 vs 讠 (same 翏 component).
How many strokes does 寥 have?
寥 is written with 14 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 寥?
The radical associated with 寥 is 宀 (roof). This radical appears in many characters related to roof.
What are the components of 寥?
寥 is composed of: 宀 (semantic), 翏 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱宀翏 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 寥?
Common words with 寥 include: 寥寥无几 (liáo liáo wú jǐ, "(idiom) very few"); 寥寥 (liáo liáo, "very few"); 寂寥 (jì liáo, "(literary) quiet and desolate"); 寥若晨星 (liáo ruò chén xīng, "rare as morning stars (idiom)"); 寥寥可数 (liáo liáo kě shǔ, "(idiom) very few"). There are over 7 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 寥 (liáo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation liáo: 辽 (short name for Liaoning 遼寧|辽宁 province), 疗 (to treat), 聊 (chat), 僚 (bureaucrat), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 寥 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 寥 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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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.