呀 (yā): ah (used to express surprise), (onom.) creaking, (particle equivalent to 啊 after a vowel, expressing surprise or doubt)
呀 (yā) is a Chinese character meaning “ah (used to express surprise).” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 牙 (phonetic). It ranks #929 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 呀 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).
Definitions
- ah (used to express surprise)
- (onom.) creaking
- (particle equivalent to 啊 after a vowel, expressing surprise or doubt)
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 呀 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 呀
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 啊呀 | ā yā | interjection of surprise |
| 吱呀 | zhī yā | (onom.) creaking |
| 天呀 | tiān ya | Heavens! |
| 呀呀学语 | yā yā xué yǔ | see 咿呀學語|咿呀学语[yi1 ya1 xue2 yu3] |
| 呀诺达 | yā nuò dá | Yanoda, a rainforest in southern Hainan |
| 咿呀学语 | yī yā xué yǔ | (of a baby) to babble |
| 欧咪呀给 | ōu mī yā gěi | (Tw) gift given when visiting sb (esp. a local specialty brought back from one's travels, or a special product of one... |
| 吽呀 | óu yá | variant of 吽牙[ou2 ya2] |
呀 appears in 9 compound words: 22 as the first character, 56 as the last, and 22 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 呀 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
他呀才很好，能言善辩，是个出色的律师。
tā yā cái hěn hǎo , néng yán shàn biàn , shì gě chū sè de lǜ shī .
He's quite the catch—eloquent and persuasive, an outstanding lawyer.
...sso 食客呻悭皮 网民嘲..玩紧煮饭仔呀
. . . s s o shí kè shēn 悭 pí wǎng mín cháo . . wán jǐn zhǔ fàn zǐ yā
...男子家庭纠纷街头叫嚣被制服 高呼:唔好揿呀!好X痛呀
. . . nán zǐ jiā tíng jiū fēn jiē tóu jiào xiāo bèi zhì fú gāo hū : 唔 hǎo 揿 yā ! hǎo X tòng yā
...最好的艾维!太细节了,给杨校长看的一顿夸呀!拿下GG多抓!
. . . zuì hǎo de ài wéi ! tài xì jié le , gěi yáng jiào cháng kàn de yī dùn kuā yā ! ná xià G G duō zhuā !
...Way to go, Aivi! That's so detailed—Principal Yang gave you a real compliment when he saw it! Keep up the great work!
老年人硬不起有啥办法呀?真空负压装置适合高龄患者吗
lǎo nián rén yìng bù qǐ yǒu 啥 bàn fǎ yā ? zhēn kōng fù yā zhuāng zhì shì gě gāo líng huàn zhě ma
What can be done about the elderly who can't afford it? Is the vacuum negative pressure device suitable for elderly patients?
宇宙里有多少个星系呀？
Yǔzhòu lǐ yǒu duōshao gè xīngxì ya?
How many galaxies are there in the universe?
汤姆在哪儿买的这些花呀？
Tāngmǔ zài nǎr mǎi de zhèxiē huā ya?
Where did Tom buy these flowers?
桌上的钥匙是谁的呀？
Zhuō shàng de yàoshi shì shéi de ya?
Whose key is that on the table?
汤姆对什么过敏呀？
Tāngmǔ duì shénme guòmǐn ya?
What's Tom allergic to?
你是什么时候搬到柏林的呀？
Nǐ shì shénmeshíhou bān dào Bólín de ya?
When did you move to Berlin?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 呀 (yā) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 呀 have?
What is the radical of 呀?
What are the components of 呀?
What are common words containing 呀?
What characters sound the same as 呀 (yā)?
Is 呀 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 呀 with real-time feedback
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