料 (liào): material, stuff, grain
料 (liào) is a Chinese character meaning “material.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 米 (structural) and 斗 (structural). It ranks #557 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 料 a hand measuring 斗 a cup of rice 米. Its radical form 斗 (dipper) appears in many related characters such as 斗 (dǒu, abbr. for the Big Dipper constellation 北斗星), 斜 (xié, inclined).
Definitions
- material
- stuff
- grain
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA hand measuring 斗 a cup of rice 米
Decomposition: ⿰米斗 (layout: left-right)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 料 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 料
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 资料noun | zī liào | material | 4 |
| 饮料noun | yǐn liào | drink | 3 |
| 材料noun | cái liào | (raw) material | 4 |
| 塑料noun | sù liào | plastic | 4 |
| 预料verb/noun | yù liào | to forecast | 6 |
| 燃料noun | rán liào | fuel | 6 |
| 原料noun | yuán liào | raw material | 6 |
| 原材料noun | yuán cái liào | raw and semifinished materials | 6 |
| 不料conjunction | bù liào | unexpectedly | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 料到 | liào dào | to foresee |
| 照料 | zhào liào | to tend |
| 香料 | xiāng liào | spice |
| 意料 | yì liào | to anticipate |
| 料理 | liào lǐ | to arrange |
| 颜料 | yán liào | paint |
| 布料 | bù liào | fabric |
| 调料 | tiáo liào | condiment |
| 肥料 | féi liào | fertilizer |
| 笑料 | xiào liào | comedic material |
| 配料 | pèi liào | ingredients (in a cooking recipe) |
| 涂料 | tú liào | paint |
| 料想 | liào xiǎng | to expect |
| 废料 | fèi liào | waste products |
| 饲料 | sì liào | feed |
料 appears in 100 compound words: 18 as the first character, 79 as the last, and 3 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 料 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (7)
Example Sentences
准备这些材料花了我整整一个星期的时间。
Zhǔnbèi zhèxiē cáiliào huā le wǒ zhěngzhěng yī gè xīngqī de shíjiān.
Preparing these materials took me a whole week.
港大發現新物理原理 突破通風吸音材料極限
gǎng dà 發 現 xīn wù lǐ yuán lǐ tū pò tōng 風 xī yīn cái liào 極 xiàn
HKU Discovers New Physical Principle, Pushing Boundaries of Ventilated Sound-Absorbing Materials
好市多1拌麵醬多有料 老饕激推:超好吃
hǎo shì duō bàn 麵 醬 duō yǒu liào lǎo 饕 jī tuī chāo hǎo chī
Costco's Stir-Fry Sauce Packed with Flavor Foodies Rave: Absolutely Delicious
圓山大飯店:系統遭入侵不排除顧客資料可能外流
圓 shān dà 飯 diàn xì 統 zāo rù qīn bù pái chú 顧 kè 資 liào kě néng wài liú
Grand Hotel Taipei: System Compromised, Customer Data Leak Not Ruled Out
...能的都市休閒服 9m88柯煒林演繹科技布料的日常穿搭
. . . néng de dōu shì xiū 閒 fú 柯 煒 lín yǎn 繹 kē jì bù liào de rì cháng chuān dā
... The Urban Casual Wear of 9m88 Ke Wei Lin's Everyday Wear of Technological Fabrics
资讯很有料|伊美第二轮谈判结束 是伊方期待的“机会...
zī xùn hěn yǒu liào yī měi dì èr lún tán pàn jié shù shì yī fāng qī dāi de jī huì . . .
The second round of talks between Iran and the U.S. ended with a "chance" for the Iranian side to look forward to...
褐煤是一种化石燃料。
Hèméi shì yīzhǒng huàshíránliào.
Lignite is a fossil fuel.
意料之外，收获颇丰。
Yìliàozhīwài, shōuhuò pō fēng.
Unexpectedly, I struck fortune.
我拒绝使用塑料袋。
Wǒ jùjué shǐyòng sùliàodài.
I refuse to use plastic bags.
你确定你的资料属实吗？
Nǐ quèdìng nǐ de zīliào shǔshí ma?
Are you sure of your facts?
Character Family
斗 Radical Family — Characters sharing the dipper radical
Frequently Asked Questions
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What characters sound the same as 料 (liào)?
Is 料 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 料 with real-time feedback
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