(yǎng): itch

(yǎng) is a Chinese character meaning “itch.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2522 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, sickness. Its radical form (illness) appears in many related characters such as (, medicine), (bìng, illness), (téng, ache).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. itch

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticsickness

Decomposition: ⿸疒羊 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

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
yǎng yangto itch
wú guān tòng yǎng(idiom) to not affect sb
fā yǎngto tickle
sāo yǎngto scratch (an itch)
shǒu yǎng(fig.) to itch (to do sth)
bù tòng bù yǎnglit. doesn't hurt, doesn't tickle (idiom)
tòng yǎngpain and itch
qī nián zhī yǎngseven-year itch
bù zhī tòng yǎngnumb
bù guān tòng yǎngunimportant
shī zi duō le bù yǎng , zhài duō le bù chóulit. when covered with lice, one doesn't feel the itching anymore, and when up to one's ears in debt, one ceases to w...
shī duō bù yǎnglit. when covered with lice, one doesn't feel the itching anymore (idiom)
xīn lǐ yǎng yang(idiom) to feel a strong urge (to do sth)
jì yǎngto itch to demonstrate one's skill
pà yǎngto be ticklish
26
Total compounds
8
As first character
62
As last character
31
As middle character

appears in 26 compound words: 8 as the first character, 62 as the last, and 31 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.

náo
0.568210 co-occurrences
tòng
0.509708 co-occurrences
0.484162 co-occurrences
zhuó
0.44766 co-occurrences
zhǒng
0.43678 co-occurrences
téng
0.43090 co-occurrences
zhàng
0.40942 co-occurrences
yān
0.40536 co-occurrences
yǎn
0.387282 co-occurrences
xuē
0.37930 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

bùguāntòngyǎngHSK 6+

of no consequence; immaterial; unimportant

phrase
bù zhī tòng yǎngHSK 6+

numb; unfeeling; indifferent

phrase
wúguāntòngyǎngHSK 6+

to be unrelated to one's own interests

phrase
géxuēsāoyǎngHSK 7+

to attempt an ineffective solution

phrase

Showing 4 of 6 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

被蚊子咬了,皮肤很,忍不住想抓。

Bèi wénzi yǎo le, pífū hěn yǎng, rěnbuzhù xiǎng zhuā.

Bitten by mosquitoes; my skin is very itchy and I can't help but want to scratch.

99 健康网Mar 2026

男人下面瘙是什么原因引起的?饮食辛辣油腻助长湿热吗

nán rén xià miàn 瘙 yǎng shì shén má yuán yīn yǐn qǐ de ? yǐn shí xīn là yóu nì zhù cháng shī rè ma

What causes itching under a man? Does the diet spicy and greasy promote dampness and heat?

99 健康网Mar 2026

男人下面瘙是什么原因引起的?肥胖者腹股沟摩擦加重症...

nán rén xià miàn 瘙 yǎng shì shén má yuán yīn yǐn qǐ de ? féi pàng zhě fù gǔ gōu mó cā jiā chóng zhèng . . .

What causes itching under a man? Aggravated groin friction in obese people...

NewsFeb 2026

“尻川”别再硬撑 医师揭:清太干净也可能出事

尻 chuān yǎng yǎng bié zài yìng chēng yī shī jiē qīng tài gān jìng yě kě néng chū shì

"Shirikawa itchy" don't hold on anymore The doctor revealed: Qingtai is clean and may also have an accident

NewsFeb 2026

...ina豆腐!被目击揉她手指 亲喊冤:我手

. . . dòu fǔ ! bèi mù jī róu tā shǒu zhǐ qīn hǎn yuān wǒ shǒu yǎng

...Ina Tofu! Caught rubbing her fingers, she protests: "My hands were just itchy!"

NewsFeb 2026

Karina被吃豆腐?韩男星澄清:我是手

bèi chī dòu fǔ ? hán nán xīng chéng qīng wǒ shì shǒu yǎng

Karina groped? Korean star clarifies: "My hand just got itchy."

Tatoeba

我的喉咙又干又红、又痛又

Wǒ de hóulóng yòu gān yòu hóng, yòu tòng yòu yǎng.

My throat feels dry and raw and scratchy.

Tatoeba

你又皮发了,找抽,是吧?

Nǐ yòu pí fāyǎng le, zhǎochōu, shì ba?

You just can't stand still, huh? What are you, looking for a fight?

Tatoeba

哎呦好难受啊,全身发

āiyōu hǎo nánshòu ā, quánshēn fāyǎng!

Grr! I'm itchy all over, and it's driving me crazy.

Tatoeba

我的头皮非常

Wǒ de tóupí fēicháng yǎng.

My scalp is very itchy.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yǎng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 痒 (yǎng) mean in Chinese?
痒 (yǎng) primarily means "itch." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2522 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 痒 and 鲜?
痒 (yǎng) and 鲜 (xiān) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 疒 vs 鱼 (same 羊 component).
How many strokes does 痒 have?
痒 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 痒?
The radical associated with 痒 is 疒 (illness). This radical appears in many characters related to illness.
What are the components of 痒?
痒 is composed of: 疒 (semantic), 羊 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸疒羊 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 痒?
Common words with 痒 include: 痒痒 (yǎng yang, "to itch"); 无关痛痒 (wú guān tòng yǎng, "(idiom) to not affect sb"); 发痒 (fā yǎng, "to tickle"); 搔痒 (sāo yǎng, "to scratch (an itch)"); 手痒 (shǒu yǎng, "(fig.) to itch (to do sth)"). There are over 26 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 痒 (yǎng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yǎng: 洋 (ocean), 养 (to raise (animals)), 氧 (oxygen (chemistry)), 样 (manner), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 痒 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 痒 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.