崖 (yá): precipice, cliff
崖 (yá) is a Chinese character meaning “precipice.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 山 (structural) and 厓 (structural). It ranks #2191 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 崖 a mountain 山 precipice 厓; 厓 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 山 (mountain) appears in many related characters such as 山 (shān, mountain), 岁 (suì, years old), 岸 (àn, bank).
Definitions
- precipice
- cliff
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA mountain 山 precipice 厓; 厓 also provides the pronunciation
Decomposition: ⿱山厓 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 悬崖noun | xuán yá | precipice |
| 山崖noun | shān yá | cliff |
| 悬崖勒马phrase | xuán yá lè mǎ | lit. to rein in the horse at the edge of the precipice (idiom) |
| 悬崖峭壁phrase | xuán yá qiào bì | (idiom) sheer cliffs and precipitous rock faces |
| 崖壁noun | yá bì | escarpment |
| 断崖式 | duàn yá shì | (of a fall in price, temperature etc) steep |
| 崖州区 | yá zhōu qū | Yazhou, a district of Sanya City 三亞市|三亚市, Hainan |
| 淡色崖沙燕 | dàn sè yá shā yàn | (bird species of China) pale martin (Riparia diluta) |
| 断崖noun | duàn yá | steep cliff |
| 崖刻noun | yá kè | rock carving |
| 悬崖绝壁phrase | xuán yá jué bì | see 懸崖峭壁|悬崖峭壁 |
| 崖限 | yá xiàn | cliff barring the way |
| 崖州proper-noun | yá zhōu | ancient name for Hainan Island 海南島|海南岛 |
| 茫崖市 | máng yá shì | Mangnai, a county-level city in Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 海西蒙古族藏族自治州[Hai3 xi1 Meng3 gu3 zu2 Zang... |
| 崖略noun | yá lüè | (literary) outline |
崖 appears in 25 compound words: 44 as the first character, 32 as the last, and 24 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 崖 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (3)
to desist from doing something before it is too late; to pull back before it is too late
to desist from doing something before it is too late; to pull back before it is too late
Example Sentences
崖字在日常生活中使用频率较低。
yá zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .
The character "崖" is not frequently used in everyday life.
...失联20天男子确认遇难 官方初判系失足坠崖
. . . shī lián 2 0 tiān nán zǐ què rèn yù nán guān fāng chū pàn xì shī zú zhuì yá
...Man Missing for 20 Days Confirmed Dead; Authorities Preliminary Assessment Points to Accidental Fall from a Cliff
...十天后骤止...全球 LNG 濒临供应悬崖
. . . shí tiān hòu zhòu zhǐ . . . quán qiú L N G bīn lín gōng yīng xuán yá
...came to an abrupt halt ten days later... Global LNG supply is on the brink of a cliff
重庆景点10大推介|洪崖洞/打卡彩虹楼梯/必玩250米高空秋千!
chóng qìng jǐng diǎn 1 0 dà tuī jiè hóng yá dòng dǎ kǎ cǎi hóng lóu tī bì wán 2 5 0 mǐ gāo kōng qiū qiān !
Top 10 recommended attractions in Chongqing|Hongya Cave/Check in the rainbow staircase/Must-play 250-meter high-altitude swing!
...跳峡—一家三口行未开发地段 8岁童失足堕崖身亡
. . . tiào xiá — yī jiā sān kǒu háng wèi kāi fā dì duàn 8 suì tóng shī zú duò yá shēn wáng
... Jumping gorge - a family of three walking on an undeveloped lot An 8-year-old child fell off a cliff and died
一家三口大年初一被困浙江大罗山悬崖,8岁女童体温持..
yī jiā sān kǒu dà nián chū yī bèi kùn zhè jiāng dà luó shān xuán yá , 8 suì nǚ tóng tǐ wēn chí . .
A family of three was trapped on the cliffs of Daluoshan Mountain in Zhejiang Province on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and the 8-year-old girl had a temperature:
他们一直爬到悬崖顶上。
Tāmen yīzhí pádào xuányá dǐng shàng.
They climbed to the top of a cliff.
只迈一步，你就会落下悬崖。
Zhǐ mài yī bù, nǐ jiù huì luòxià xuányá.
A single step, and you will fall over the cliff.
车子若是掉落悬崖他们早就没命了。
Chēzi ruòshì diàoluò xuányá tāmen zǎojiù méimìng le.
They'd have been killed if the car had gone over the cliff.
我差点从悬崖上掉下去。
Wǒ chàdiǎn cóng xuányá shàng diàoxià qù.
I nearly fell off the cliff.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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What characters sound the same as 崖 (yá)?
Is 崖 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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