(): precipice, cliff, Taiwan pr.

() is a Chinese character meaning “precipice.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #2191 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a mountain 山 precipice 厓; 厓 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form (mountain) appears in many related characters such as (shān, mountain), (suì, years old), (àn, bank).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. precipice
  2. cliff
  3. Taiwan pr.

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA mountain 山 precipice 厓; 厓 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿱山厓 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
xuán yáprecipice
shān yácliff
xuán yá lè mǎlit. to rein in the horse at the edge of the precipice (idiom)
xuán yá qiào bì(idiom) sheer cliffs and precipitous rock faces
yá bìescarpment
duàn yá shì(of a fall in price, temperature etc) steep
yá zhōu qūYazhou, a district of Sanya City 三亞市|三亚市[San1 ya4 Shi4], Hainan
dàn sè yá shā yàn(bird species of China) pale martin (Riparia diluta)
duàn yásteep cliff
yá kèrock carving
xuán yá jué bìsheer cliffs and precipitous rock faces (idiom)
yá xiàncliff barring the way
yá zhōuancient name for Hainan Island 海南島|海南岛[Hai3 nan2 Dao3]
yá lüè(literary) outline
yá hǎi yā(bird species of China) common murre (Uria aalge)
22
Total compounds
50
As first character
27
As last character
23
As middle character

appears in 22 compound words: 50 as the first character, 27 as the last, and 23 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

xuán
0.6599,872 co-occurrences
qiào
0.6012,532 co-occurrences
0.55812,426 co-occurrences
dǒu
0.5251,260 co-occurrences
0.5195,442 co-occurrences
0.4906,882 co-occurrences
zhuì
0.472948 co-occurrences
máng
0.469504 co-occurrences
tiào
0.4462,904 co-occurrences
shí
0.4389,438 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

xuányájuébìHSK 7+

sheer precipices and overhanging rocks; perilous cliffs and precipices

phrase
xuányálèmǎHSK 7+

to desist from doing something before it is too late; to pull back before it is too late

phrase
xuányáqiàobìHSK 7+

sheer precipices and overhanging rocks; perilous cliffs and precipices

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

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.

The Beijing NewsMar 2026

...失联20天男子确认遇难 官方初判系失足坠

. . . shī lián 2 0 tiān nán zǐ què rèn yù nán guān fāng chū pàn xì shī zú zhuì yá

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

...十天后骤止...全球 LNG 濒临供应悬

. . . 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

Hk01.comFeb 2026

重庆景点10大推介|洪洞/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!

StheadlineFeb 2026

...跳峡—一家三口行未开发地段 8岁童失足堕身亡

. . . 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

百度新闻Feb 2026

一家三口大年初一被困浙江大罗山悬,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:

Tatoeba

他们一直爬到悬顶上。

Tāmen yīzhí pádào xuányá dǐng shàng.

They climbed to the top of a cliff.

Tatoeba

只迈一步,你就会落下悬

Zhǐ mài yī bù, nǐ jiù huì luòxià xuányá.

A single step, and you will fall over the cliff.

Tatoeba

车子若是掉落悬他们早就没命了。

Chēzi ruòshì diàoluò xuányá tāmen zǎojiù méimìng le.

They'd have been killed if the car had gone over the cliff.

Tatoeba

我差点从悬上掉下去。

Wǒ chàdiǎn cóng xuányá shàng diàoxià qù.

I nearly fell off the cliff.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 崖 (yá) mean in Chinese?
崖 (yá) primarily means "precipice." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2191 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 崖 have?
崖 is written with 11 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 崖?
The radical associated with 崖 is 山 (mountain). This radical appears in many characters related to mountain.
What are the components of 崖?
崖 is composed of: 山 (structural), 厓 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱山厓 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 崖?
Common words with 崖 include: 悬崖 (xuán yá, "precipice"); 山崖 (shān yá, "cliff"); 悬崖勒马 (xuán yá lè mǎ, "lit. to rein in the horse at the edge of the precipice (idiom)"); 悬崖峭壁 (xuán yá qiào bì, "(idiom) sheer cliffs and precipitous rock faces"); 崖壁 (yá bì, "escarpment"). There are over 22 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 崖 (yá)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yá: 丫 (fork), 压 (to press), 押 (to mortgage), 鸦 (crow), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 崖 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 崖 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.