(): duck

() is a Chinese character meaning “duck.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #2092 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, bird. Its radical form (bird) appears in many related characters such as (, chicken), (niǎo, bird), (míng, to cry (of birds, animals and insects)).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. duck

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticbird

Decomposition: ⿰甲鸟 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounyā ziduck5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
yě yāwild duck
kǎo yāroast duck
táng lǎo yāDonald Duck
yā zuǐ shòuplatypus
hàn yā zinon-swimmer
yā shé màopeaked cap
yā róngduck down
绿yā lù jiāngYalu River, forming part of the China-Korea border
tián yā shìforce feeding (as a teaching method)
绿lǜ tóu yā(bird species of China) mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
xián yā dànsalted duck egg
tián yāto force-feed ducks
gǎn yā zi shàng jiàlit. to drive a duck onto a perch (idiom)
yā zǐ r(coll.) duck's egg
zhǔ shú de yā zi fēi lethe cooked duck flew away (proverb)
74
Total compounds
16
As first character
65
As last character
19
As middle character

appears in 74 compound words: 16 as the first character, 65 as the last, and 19 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.

绿
0.5703,552 co-occurrences
zuǐ
0.5492,226 co-occurrences
kǎo
0.5441,158 co-occurrences
0.5261,278 co-occurrences
é
0.501582 co-occurrences
0.491324 co-occurrences
qián
0.447936 co-occurrences
shǐ
0.437126 co-occurrences
0.435156 co-occurrences
róng
0.433186 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

jītóngyājiǎngHSK 5+

mutually unintelligible; unable to understand one another; to talk past each other; getting one's wires crossed

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

北京烤是世界闻名的中国美食。

Běijīng kǎoyā shì shìjiè wénmíng de Zhōngguó měishí.

Beijing roast duck is a world-famous Chinese delicacy.

SmzdmMar 2026

第6集 挑战100道狗狗鲜食,今天做肉清火套餐#宠物 #狗粮 #宠物零食 #...

dì 6 jí tiāo zhàn 1 0 0 dào gǒu gǒu xiān shí , jīn tiān zuò yā ròu qīng huǒ tào cān chǒng wù gǒu liáng chǒng wù líng shí . . .

Episode 6: The Challenge of 100 Dog Raw Food Recipes—Today’s Menu: Duck Meat to Clear Heat #Pets #DogFood #PetTreats #...

NewtalkMar 2026

女高中生订肉饭备注“3张卫生纸”!竟遭店员PO网公...

nǚ gāo zhōng shēng dìng yā ròu fàn bèi zhù 3 zhāng wèi shēng zhǐ ! jìng zāo diàn yuán P O wǎng gōng . . .

High school girl orders duck rice and notes "3 sheets of toilet paper"! Store clerk posts it online...

光明网_新闻视野、文化视角、思想深度、理论高度Feb 2026

【锦绣中国年】阖家团圆板香_光明网

jǐn xiù zhōng guó nián 阖 jiā tuán yuán bǎn yā xiāng guāng míng wǎng

【Splendid Chinese Year】Family Reunion Board Duck Fragrance_Guangming.com

NewsFeb 2026

快闪限量送!台南超夯菜市、夜市变身“力爆表小提灯”

kuài shǎn xiàn liàng sòng ! tái nán chāo bèn cài shì yā yè shì yā biàn shēn yā lì bào biǎo xiǎo tí dēng

Pop-up limited edition! Tainan super rammed vegetable market duck and night market duck transformed into "duck power explosive lantern"

百度新闻Feb 2026

马年“识局”6 | 不想当“跛脚”,特朗普能否守..

mǎ nián shí jú bù xiǎng dāng 跛 jiǎo yā , tè lǎng pǔ néng fǒu shǒu . .

Year of the Horse "Reading the Political Landscape" 6 | Trump's Bid to Avoid Becoming a "Lame Duck"

Tatoeba

我们在中餐厅吃了北京烤

Wǒmen zài Zhōngcān tīng chī le Běijīngkǎoyā.

We ate Peking duck in the Chinese restaurant.

Tatoeba

如水流过背般毫无反应。

Rú shuǐ liúguò yābèi bān háowú fǎnyìng.

Like water off a duck's back.

Tatoeba

它看起来像一只子。

Tā kànqǐlai xiàng yī zhī yāzi.

It looks like a duck.

Tatoeba

我是一只子。我说英语。

Wǒ shì yī zhī yāzi. wǒ shuō Yīngyǔ.

I am a duck. I speak English.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 鸭 (yā) mean in Chinese?
鸭 (yā) primarily means "duck." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2092 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 鸭 and 闸?
鸭 (yā) and 闸 (zhá) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 鸟 vs 门 (same 甲 component).
How many strokes does 鸭 have?
鸭 is written with 10 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 鸭?
The radical associated with 鸭 is 鸟 (bird). This radical appears in many characters related to bird.
What are the components of 鸭?
鸭 is composed of: 甲 (phonetic), 鸟 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰甲鸟 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 鸭?
Common words with 鸭 include: 鸭子 (yā zi, "duck"); 野鸭 (yě yā, "wild duck"); 烤鸭 (kǎo yā, "roast duck"); 唐老鸭 (táng lǎo yā, "Donald Duck"); 鸭嘴兽 (yā zuǐ shòu, "platypus"). There are over 74 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 鸭 (yā)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yā: 押 (to mortgage), 丫 (fork), 压 (to press), 鸦 (crow), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 鸭 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 鸭 and the traditional form is 鴨.

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.