瞭 (liào): to watch from a height or distance

瞭 (liào) is a Chinese character meaning “to watch from a height or distance.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 目 (semantic) and 尞 (phonetic). It ranks #3699 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 瞭 eye. Its radical form 目 (eye) appears in many related characters such as 目 (mù, eye), 看 (kàn, to look, to see), 眼 (yǎn, eye).

Spoken pronunciation

Radical: 目 eye17 strokesFrequency #3699目 semantic 尞 phonetic

Definitions

to watch from a height or distance

Etymology & Origin

瞭

pictophoneticeye

Decomposition: ⿰目尞 (layout: left-right)

Components:目semantic 尞phonetic

Stroke Order

Practice writing 瞭 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
瞭望台noun	liào wàng tái	observation platform
瞭望塔	liào wàng tǎ	watchtower
瞭望verb	liào wàng	to look into the distance (esp. from a height)
瞭望哨	liào wàng shào	lookout post
瞭哨	liào shào	to go on sentry duty

Total compounds

100

As first character

As last character

As middle character

瞭 appears in 5 compound words: 100 as the first character, 0 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 瞭 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

疫yì

0.68910 co-occurrences

免miǎn

0.53310 co-occurrences

解jiě

0.41510 co-occurrences

力lì

0.36710 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·文化Oct 2026

铜雀台高耸巍峨，是军事瞭望的要塞，更是当时文人宴饮雅集之所。

tóng què tái gāo sǒng 巍峨 , shì jūn shì liào wàng de yào sāi , gèng shì dāng shí wén rén yàn yǐn yǎ jí zhī suǒ .

The Tower of the Bronze Sparrow stood tall and majestic; it served as a strategic military lookout and was also a venue for literary gatherings and banquets among the scholars of the time.

中国新闻网·生活May 2026

蘑菇中有“新蛋白”（科技瞭望）

mó gū zhōng yǒu xīn dàn bái ( kē jì liào wàng )

"New Protein" Found in Mushrooms (Science Outlook)

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 目 (eye) component

眼yǎn 省shěng 睡shuì 睛jīng 冒mào 督dū 瞧qiáo 盯dīng 睁zhēng 眠mián

Related Characters

目mù 看kàn 眼yǎn 着zhe 睡shuì 觉jué 睛jīng 盯dīng 相xiāng 省shěng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 瞭 (liào) mean in Chinese?

瞭 (liào) primarily means "to watch from a height or distance." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3699 in character frequency.

How many strokes does 瞭 have?

瞭 is written with 17 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 瞭?

The radical associated with 瞭 is 目 (eye). This radical appears in many characters related to eye.

What are the components of 瞭?

瞭 is composed of: 目 (semantic), 尞 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰目尞 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 瞭?

Common words with 瞭 include: 瞭望台 (liào wàng tái, "observation platform"); 瞭望塔 (liào wàng tǎ, "watchtower"); 瞭望 (liào wàng, "to look into the distance (esp. from a height)"); 瞭望哨 (liào wàng shào, "lookout post"); 瞭哨 (liào shào, "to go on sentry duty"). There are over 5 compound words containing this character.

Is 瞭 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 瞭 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 瞭 with real-time feedback

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