(yǎng): oxygen (chemistry)

(yǎng) is a Chinese character meaning “oxygen (chemistry).” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1844 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, gas. Its radical form (steam) appears in many related characters such as (, gas), (fēn, miasma).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. oxygen (chemistry)

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticgas

Decomposition: ⿹气羊 (layout: surround-from-upper-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
nounyǎng qìoxygen6
nounèr yǎng huà tàncarbon dioxide CO26

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
yǎng huàto oxidize
yī yǎng huà tàncarbon monoxide CO
quē yǎnglacking oxygen
qīng yǎng huà nàcaustic soda
chòu yǎng céngozone layer
yǎng huà jìoxidant
chòu yǎngozone (O₃)
gāo yā yǎnghyperbaric oxygen
tuō yǎngdeoxidation
yǎng huà lǚaluminum oxide
guò yǎng huà qīnghydrogen peroxide H2O2
èr yǎng huà guīsilicon dioxide (SiO2)
èr yǎng huà liúsulfur dioxide SO2
yǎng huà wùoxide
shuāng yǎng shuǐhydrogen peroxide (H2O2) solution
98
Total compounds
20
As first character
11
As last character
68
As middle character

appears in 98 compound words: 20 as the first character, 11 as the last, and 68 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.

tàn
0.70839,790 co-occurrences
huà
0.637180,828 co-occurrences
chòu
0.6007,428 co-occurrences
yàn
0.5142,604 co-occurrences
0.5147,290 co-occurrences
0.4931,914 co-occurrences
0.49318,751 co-occurrences
zhī
0.4663,276 co-occurrences
0.4657,044 co-occurrences
nóng
0.4632,460 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

èryǎnghuàtànHSK 6+

carbon dioxide

noun
kàngyǎnghuàjìHSK 7+

antioxidant

noun
tuōyǎng hétángHSK 6+

deoxyribose; semen

noun
yīyǎnghuàtànHSK 6+

carbon monoxide

noun
yǒuyǎng yùndòngHSK 6+

aerobic exercise; cardio; aerobics

noun
èryǎnghuàliúHSK 6+

sulfur dioxide

noun
èryǎnghuàměngHSK 6+

manganese dioxide

noun
èryǎnghuàtàiHSK 6+

titanium dioxide

noun
qīngyǎnghuàwùHSK 6+

hydroxide (compound)

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字在日常生活中使用频率较低。

yǎng zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .

The character for oxygen is used less frequently in daily life.

Investing 香港Mar 2026

...2.9亿元建设20万吨/年全酸性流化牀过化氢项目

. . . 2 . 9 yì yuán jiàn shè 2 0 wàn dūn nián quán suān xìng liú huà 牀 guò yǎng huà qīng xiàng mù

SmzdmMar 2026

...除甲醛吗?选择安全的空气净化器,别被“臭”坑了

. . . chú jiǎ 醛 ma ? xuǎn zé ān quán de kōng qì jìng huà qì , bié bèi chòu yǎng kēng le

...Does it remove formaldehyde? Choose a safe air purifier—don’t fall for the “ozone” scam

It之家Mar 2026

SpaceX 等液甲烷火箭爆炸到底有多可怕?美国宇航局正着...

S p a c e X děng yè yǎng jiǎ 烷 huǒ jiàn bào zhà dào de yǒu duō kě pà ? měi guó yǔ háng jú zhèng zhe . . .

Just how terrifying are explosions involving liquid oxygen and methane rockets like those used by SpaceX? NASA is currently...

99 健康网Mar 2026

两个男生做下肢运动小腹变大要加有吗?控制体脂率是关键吗

liǎng gè nán shēng zuò xià zhī yùn dòng xiǎo fù biàn dà yāo jiā yǒu yǎng ma ? kòng zhì tǐ zhī lǜ shì guān jiàn ma

Two guys are doing lower-body exercises and their stomachs are getting bigger—should they add cardio? Is controlling body fat percentage the key?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

研究:有运动可治疗轻度焦虑症

yán jiū : yǒu yǎng yùn dòng kě zhì liáo qīng dù jiāo lǜ zhèng

Study: Aerobic exercise treats mild anxiety

Tatoeba

铁和都是化学元素。

Tiě hé yǎng dōu shì huàxuéyuánsù.

Iron and oxygen are elements.

Tatoeba

树木排出气,吸收二化碳。

Shùmù páichū yǎngqì, xīshōu èryǎnghuàtàn.

Trees give off oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide.

Tatoeba

平流层的臭会吸收紫外线。

Píngliúcéng de chòuyǎng huì xīshōu zǐwàixiàn.

The ozone in the stratosphere absorbs ultraviolet radiation.

Tatoeba

我们缺时就会打哈欠。

Wǒmen quēyǎng shí jiù huì dǎ hāqian.

We yawn when we are short of oxygen.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the steam radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced yǎng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 氧 (yǎng) mean in Chinese?
氧 (yǎng) primarily means "oxygen (chemistry)." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1844 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 氧 and 鲜?
氧 (yǎng) and 鲜 (xiān) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 气 vs 鱼 (same 羊 component).
How many strokes does 氧 have?
氧 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 氧?
The radical associated with 氧 is 气 (steam). This radical appears in many characters related to steam.
What are the components of 氧?
氧 is composed of: 气 (semantic), 羊 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿹气羊 with a surround-from-upper-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 氧?
Common words with 氧 include: 氧气 (yǎng qì, "oxygen"); 氧化 (yǎng huà, "to oxidize"); 二氧化碳 (èr yǎng huà tàn, "carbon dioxide CO2"); 一氧化碳 (yī yǎng huà tàn, "carbon monoxide CO"); 缺氧 (quē yǎng, "lacking oxygen"). There are over 98 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 氧 (yǎng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yǎng: 洋 (ocean), 养 (to raise (animals)), 痒 (itch), 样 (manner), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 氧 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 氧 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.