夜 (yè): night
夜 (yè) is a Chinese character meaning “night.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亠 (structural). It ranks #665 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 夜 a person 亻 sneaking by under cover 亠 of night 夕. Its radical form 夕 (evening) appears in many related characters such as 外 (wài, outside), 多 (duō, many), 够 (gòu, enough (sufficient)).
Definitions
- night
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA person 亻 sneaking by under cover 亠 of night 夕
Decomposition: ⿱亠⿰亻夕 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 夜 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 夜
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 夜晚noun | yè wǎn | night | 4 |
| 半夜numeral-measure/noun | bàn yè | midnight | 5 |
| 深夜noun | shēn yè | very late at night | 6 |
| 夜间noun | yè jiān | nighttime | 5 |
| 熬夜verb | áo yè | to stay up late or all night | 5 |
| 日夜noun | rì yè | day and night | 6 |
| 年夜饭noun | nián yè fàn | reunion dinner on Lunar New Year's Eve (Chinese New Year tradition) | 5 |
| 夜市noun | yè shì | night market | 5 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 午夜 | wǔ yè | midnight |
| 过夜 | guò yè | to spend the night |
| 夜里 | yè li | during the night |
| 今夜 | jīn yè | tonight |
| 整夜 | zhěng yè | the whole night |
| 黑夜 | hēi yè | night |
| 夜班 | yè bān | night shift |
| 前夜 | qián yè | the eve |
| 彻夜 | chè yè | the whole night |
| 夜色 | yè sè | night scene |
| 昨夜 | zuó yè | last night |
| 守夜 | shǒu yè | to be on all-night duty |
| 长夜 | cháng yè | long dark night |
| 夜莺 | yè yīng | nightingale |
| 夜幕 | yè mù | curtain of night |
夜 appears in 100 compound words: 40 as the first character, 51 as the last, and 9 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 夜 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (21)
Showing 12 of 21 idioms containing 夜.
Example Sentences
夜字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。
yè zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .
The character "夜" has different usages in different contexts.
汪小菲过年带子逛饶河夜市 脱口“台湾”赶紧加“中国”
wāng xiǎo 菲 guò nián dài zǐ guàng ráo hé yè shì tuō kǒu tái wān gǎn jǐn jiā zhōng guó
Wang Xiaofei took her children to visit Raohe Night Market during the New Year and blurted out "Taiwan" and quickly added "China"
到底有多正?男大生载到班花夜冲险猝死
dào de yǒu duō zhèng ? nán dà shēng zài dào bān huā yè chōng xiǎn 猝 sǐ
How good is it? The male college student died suddenly at night in class
米兰冬奥闭幕式今夜登场 冰雪盛宴落幕维罗纳
mǐ lán dōng ào bì mù shì jīn yè dēng chǎng bīng xuě shèng yàn luò mù wéi luó nà
The closing ceremony of the Milan Winter Olympics debuted tonight, and the ice and snow feast came to an end in Verona
夜王—杨偲泳性感镜头疑遭刻意删减 公开绝密...
yè wáng — yáng 偲 yǒng xìng gǎn jìng tóu yí zāo kè yì shān jiǎn gōng kāi jué mì . . .
Night King - Yang Siyong's sexy footage is suspected of being deliberately deleted and made public top secret...
《超夜》詹老师惊传过世!詹雅雯崩溃发声:太心痛...
chāo yè 詹 lǎo shī jīng chuán guò shì ! 詹 yǎ 雯 bēng kuì fā shēng : tài xīn tòng . . .
"Super Night" Teacher Zhan passed away! Zhan Yawen collapsed and spoke: It's too heartbreaking...
他妈的，哪个傻子敢在半夜打我电话?!
Tāmāde, nǎge shǎzi gǎn zài bànyè dǎ wǒ diànhuà?!
Fucking hell, what idiot dare phone me in the middle of the night?
小区安全吗？夜晚有照明设施吗？
Xiǎoqū ānquán ma? yèwǎn yǒu zhàomíng shèshī ma?
Is this community safe? Are there lighting installations for the night?
今天夜晚去广州的火车票还有吗？
Jīntiān yèwǎn qù Guǎngzhōu de huǒchēpiào háiyǒu ma?
Are there any train tickets to Guangzhou for tonight?
我想还待一夜，行不行？
Wǒ xiǎng hái dài yī yè, xíng bù xíng?
I'd like to stay one more night. Is that possible?
Character Family
夕 Radical Family — Characters sharing the evening radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 夜 (yè) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 夜 and 日?
How many strokes does 夜 have?
What is the radical of 夜?
What are the components of 夜?
What are common words containing 夜?
What characters sound the same as 夜 (yè)?
Is 夜 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 夜 with real-time feedback
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