窑 (yáo): kiln

窑 (yáo) is a Chinese character meaning “kiln.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 穴 (structural) and 缶 (structural). It ranks #2275 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 窑 an oven 穴 where pots 缶 are fired; 缶 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 穴 (cave) appears in many related characters such as 穿 (chuān, to wear, 穿透), 空 (kōng, empty, sky), 突 (tū, sudden).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 穴 cave11 strokesFrequency #2275穴 structural缶 structural

Definitions

  1. kiln

Etymology & Origin

窑

ideographicAn oven 穴 where pots 缶 are fired; 缶 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿱穴缶 (layout: top-bottom)

Components:穴structural缶structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
土窑tǔ yáoearthen kiln
窑子yáo zi(old) low-grade brothel
窑洞yáo dòngyaodong (a kind of cave dwelling in the Loess Plateau in northwest China)
窑姐儿yáo jiě rerhua variant of 窯姐|窑姐[yao2 jie3]
窑场yáo cháng(Yuan dynasty) porcelain kilns (under imperial administration)
破瓦寒窑pò wǎ hán yáolit. broken tiles, cold hearth
苦窑kǔ yáo(slang) prison
窑姐yáo jiě(dialect) prostitute
砖窑场zhuān yáo chǎngbrick kiln
黑砖窑hēi zhuān yáolit. black brick kiln
蹲苦窑dūn kǔ yáo(slang) to be behind bars
砖窑zhuān yáobrick kiln
12
Total compounds
42
As first character
50
As last character
8
As middle character

窑 appears in 12 compound words: 42 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 8 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 窑 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

瓷cí
0.5873,018 co-occurrences
址zhǐ
0.5599,036 co-occurrences
砖zhuān
0.5011,176 co-occurrences
炉lú
0.493804 co-occurrences
钧jūn
0.478516 co-occurrences
烧shāo
0.4721,152 co-occurrences
碗wǎn
0.459474 co-occurrences
沟gōu
0.451996 co-occurrences
磁cí
0.4501,248 co-occurrences
洞dòng
0.4401,740 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

破瓦寒窑pò wǎ hán yáoHSK 7+

lit. broken tiles, cold hearth; fig. a broken-down house; poor and shabby dwelling

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个窑厂专门生产瓷砖，产品销往全国各地。

Zhè gè yáo chǎng zhuānmén shēngchǎn cízhuān, chǎnpǐn xiāo wǎng quánguó gèdì.

This kiln factory specializes in producing ceramic tiles; products are sold throughout the country.

Character Family

穴 Radical Family — Characters sharing the cave radical

穿chuān窗chuāng究jiū空kōng窍qiào窃qiè穷qióng突tū穴xué窄zhǎi

Related Characters

穿chuān空kōng突tū究jiū穷qióng窗chuāng穴xué窃qiè窄zhǎi窍qiào

Homophones — Characters pronounced yáo

妖yāo腰yāo邀yāo谣yáo摇yáo咬yǎo药yào要yāo耀yào

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 窑 (yáo) mean in Chinese?
窑 (yáo) primarily means "kiln." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2275 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 窑 have?
窑 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 窑?
The radical associated with 窑 is 穴 (cave). This radical appears in many characters related to cave.
What are the components of 窑?
窑 is composed of: 穴 (structural), 缶 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱穴缶 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 窑?
Common words with 窑 include: 土窑 (tǔ yáo, "earthen kiln"); 窑子 (yáo zi, "(old) low-grade brothel"); 窑洞 (yáo dòng, "yaodong (a kind of cave dwelling in the Loess Plateau in northwest China)"); 窑姐儿 (yáo jiě r, "erhua variant of 窯姐|窑姐[yao2 jie3]"); 窑场 (yáo cháng, "(Yuan dynasty) porcelain kilns (under imperial administration)"). There are over 12 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 窑 (yáo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yáo: 妖 (goblin), 腰 (waist), 邀 (to invite), 谣 (popular ballad), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 窑 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 窑 and the traditional form is 窯.

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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.