丫 (yā): fork, branch, bifurcation

丫 (yā) is a Chinese character meaning “fork.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 丷 (structural) and 丨 (structural). It ranks #2551 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 丫 a forked line 丨. Its radical form 丨 (line) appears in many related characters such as 个 (gè, (classifier used before a noun that has no specific classifier)), 中 (zhōng, (bound form) China), 丰 (fēng, luxuriant).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. fork
  2. branch
  3. bifurcation

Etymology & Origin

丫

ideographicA forked line 丨

Decomposition: ⿱丷丨 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
丫头nounyā tougirl
脚丫jiǎo yā(coll.) foot
脚丫子nounjiǎo yā zi(coll.) foot
黄毛丫头nounhuáng máo yā tousilly little girl
丫头片子nounyā tou piàn zi(coll.) silly girl
丫巴儿yā bā rfork (of a tree, road, argument etc)
颠儿丫子diān r yā zisee 顛兒|颠儿
丫子nounyā zisee 腳丫子|脚丫子
撒丫子verbsā yā zi(dialect) to scamper off
丫角yā jiǎotraditional hairstyle for children, with two pointy braids, giving it a horn-like appearance
丫环yā huanservant girl
丫挺pronounyā tǐng(Beijing dialect) bastard
枝丫nounzhī yāvariant of 枝椏|枝桠
丫杈nounyā chàfork (of a tree)
丫鬟nounyā huanservant girl
16
Total compounds
63
As first character
13
As last character
25
As middle character

丫 appears in 16 compound words: 63 as the first character, 13 as the last, and 25 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 丫 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

龟guī
0.41414 co-occurrences
贴tiē
0.41482 co-occurrences
头tóu
0.392338 co-occurrences
南nán
0.3901,392 co-occurrences
陪péi
0.37678 co-occurrences
嫁jià
0.36580 co-occurrences
瘦shòu
0.35722 co-occurrences
疯fēng
0.35618 co-occurrences
唤huàn
0.35018 co-occurrences
蠢chǔn
0.34112 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

黄毛丫头huángmáo yātouHSK 7+

young, inexperienced girl

noun
丫头片子yātou piànziHSK 7+

young girl (who is inexperienced and ignorant)

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我在字典里查到了丫字的详细解释。

wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le yā zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .

I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "丫" in the dictionary.

中国新闻网·体育Sep 2026

妈妈丫,我有出息啦!

mā mā yā , wǒ yǒu chū xī la !

Mom, I've made something of myself!

少数派Jun 2026

我马上把脚丫放在在甲板阳光处晒着,能晒干多少算多少。

wǒ mǎ shàng bǎ jiǎo yā fàng zài zài jiǎ bǎn yáng guāng chǔ shài zhe , néng shài gān duō shǎo suàn duō shǎo .

I immediately put my feet in the sunny spot on the deck to let them dry as much as possible.

少数派Jun 2026

后来,舅舅胡三元因演出事故入狱,失去了舅舅的保护,青娥成为了一名烧火丫头。

hòu lái , jiù jiù hú sān yuán yīn yǎn chū shì gù rù yù , shī qù le jiù jiù de bǎo hù , qīng é chéng wéi le yī míng shāo huǒ yā tóu .

Later, her uncle Hu Sanyuan was imprisoned following an accident during a performance, and without her uncle’s protection, Qing’e became a kitchen maid.

BastillepostMar 2026

保护绿海龟产卵 南丫岛深湾4月1日起设限制地区 违规最高罚5...

bǎo hù lǜ hǎi guī chǎn luǎn nán yā dǎo shēn wān 4 yuè 1 rì qǐ shè xiàn zhì dì qū wéi guī zuì gāo fá 5 . . .

To protect green sea turtle nesting, a restricted area will be established in Shum Wan, Lamma Island, starting April 1. Violators face a maximum fine of 5...

English News - RthkMar 2026

保护绿海龟产卵 南丫岛深湾4月1日至10月31日设限制地区

bǎo hù lǜ hǎi guī chǎn luǎn nán yā dǎo shēn wān 4 yuè 1 rì zhì 1 0 yuè 3 1 rì shè xiàn zhì dì qū

To Protect Green Sea Turtle Nesting, Restricted Areas Will Be Established in Shum Wan, Lamma Island, from April 1 to October 31

Tatoeba

我的丫鬟可厉害了。

Wǒ de yāhuan kě lìhai le.

My maid is amazing.

Character Family

丨 Radical Family — Characters sharing the line radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced yā

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 丫 (yā) mean in Chinese?
丫 (yā) primarily means "fork." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2551 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 丫 have?
丫 is written with 3 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 丫?
The radical associated with 丫 is 丨 (line). This radical appears in many characters related to line.
What are the components of 丫?
丫 is composed of: 丷 (structural), 丨 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱丷丨 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 丫?
Common words with 丫 include: 丫头 (yā tou, "girl"); 脚丫 (jiǎo yā, "(coll.) foot"); 脚丫子 (jiǎo yā zi, "(coll.) foot"); 黄毛丫头 (huáng máo yā tou, "silly little girl"); 丫头片子 (yā tou piàn zi, "(coll.) silly girl"). There are over 16 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 丫 (yā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yā: 亚 (Asia), 压 (to press), 呀 (ah (used to express surprise)), 牙 (tooth), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 丫 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 丫 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 丫 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.