(yǐn): to drink, to give (animals) water to drink

(yǐn) is a Chinese character meaning “to drink.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1559 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, food. Its radical form (eat) appears in many related characters such as (fàn, meal, rice), 饿 (è, hungry), (guǎn, restaurant, hall).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to drink
  2. to give (animals) water to drink

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticfood

Decomposition: ⿰饣欠 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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
nounyǐn liàodrink3
nounyǐn shíeating and drinking5
nouncān yǐnfood and beverage5
nounyǐn yòng shuǐdrinking water6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
yǐn jiǔto drink wine
chàng yǐnto have a few drinks
yǐn shuǐto drink water
lěng yǐncold drink
yǐn pǐnbeverage
yǐn yòngdrink
kuáng yǐnto drink hard
tòng yǐnto drink one's fill
ruǎn yǐn liàosoft drink
rè yǐnhot drink
cān yǐn yèfood service industry
yǐn cháto have tea and refreshments
rú máo yǐn xuèdevour raw meat and fowl (of savages)
yǐn shuǐ sī yuánlit. when you drink water, think of its source (idiom)
yǐn shuǐ qìwater dispenser
58
Total compounds
34
As first character
34
As last character
31
As middle character

appears in 58 compound words: 34 as the first character, 34 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.

cān
0.61517,864 co-occurrences
fēn
0.58410 co-occurrences
shí
0.57729,044 co-occurrences
jiǔ
0.53413,822 co-occurrences
hān
0.496324 co-occurrences
guàn
0.4771,350 co-occurrences
yàn
0.4742,022 co-occurrences
liào
0.46517,754 co-occurrences
chá
0.4252,120 co-occurrences
hūn
0.42248 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

bàoyǐnbàoshíHSK 5+

to eat and drink too much; to over-indulge in food and drink; to binge (on food and beverage)

phrase
jiǎn yǐn zé shíHSK 7+

picky about what one eats

adjective
yīyǐn'érjìnHSK 4+

to drink at a draught

phrase
yǐn hèn tūn shēngHSK 6+

to harbor a grudge with deep-seated hatred (idiom)

phrase
yǐn jiǔ zuò lèHSK 3+

drinking party; to go on a binge; to paint the town red

phrase
yǐnshuǐsīyuánHSK 5+

to remember where one's happiness comes from; to not forget one's roots or heritage

phrase
rúmáoyǐnxuèHSK 4+

to consume raw animal meat with its hair and blood unremoved; to live a primitive life

phrase
yǐnzhènzhǐkěHSK 4+

to do something harmful in order to seek any relief

phrase

Showing 8 of 9 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

堂里的饭菜虽然简单,但很可口。

yǐn táng lǐ de fàn cài suī rán jiǎn shàn , dàn hěn kě kǒu .

The food in the dining hall, though simple, is quite tasty.

99 健康网Feb 2026

孕期喝了酒对宝宝有没有影响?微量酒精料比如醪糟安全吗

yùn qī hē le jiǔ duì bǎo bǎo yǒu méi yǒu yǐng xiǎng ? wēi liàng jiǔ jīng yǐn liào bǐ rú 醪 zāo ān quán ma

Does drinking alcohol during pregnancy affect the baby? Are trace alcoholic beverages such as mash safe?

99 健康网Feb 2026

无糖的食品有哪些?料、糕点、酸奶都有无糖版吗

wú táng de shí pǐn yǒu nǎ xiē ? yǐn liào , gāo diǎn , suān nǎi dōu yǒu wú táng bǎn ma

What are sugar-free foods? Do drinks, pastries, and yogurt have sugar-free versions?

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

头孢停药三天能酒?车厘子含褪黑素可助眠?科学流言榜最新...

tóu 孢 tíng yào sān tiān néng yǐn jiǔ ? chē lí zǐ hán 褪 hēi sù kě zhù mián ? kē xué liú yán bǎng zuì xīn . . .

Can you drink alcohol after stopping cephalosporin medication for three days? Can cherries contain melatonin to help you sleep? The latest scientific rumor list...

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

春节食易伤脾胃 中医调理有良方

chūn jié yǐn shí yì shāng pí wèi zhōng yī diào lǐ yǒu liáng fāng

The Spring Festival diet is easy to damage the spleen and stomach, and there are good prescriptions for traditional Chinese medicine conditioning

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

【联副文讯】联副/舒国治、朱国珍对谈:食书写,情感记忆

lián fù wén xùn lián fù shū guó zhì , zhū guó zhēn duì tán : yǐn shí shū xiě , qíng gǎn jì yì

【Joint Deputy News】Joint Deputy/Shu Guozhi and Zhu Guozhen Dialogue: Diet Writing, Emotional Memory

Tatoeba

麦根沙士被视为一种经典的美式碳酸品。

Mài gēn shāshì bèi shìwéi yīzhǒng jīngdiǎn de Měishì tànsuān yǐnpǐn.

Root beer is considered a classic American carbonated soft drink.

Tatoeba

未满年龄酒是罪行。

Wèi mǎn niánlíng yǐnjiǔ shì zuìxíng.

Underage drinking is a crime.

Tatoeba

我要改变我的食吗?

Wǒ yào gǎibiàn wǒ de yǐnshí ma?

Do I have to change my diet?

Tatoeba

我可以为你调杯热料吗?

Wǒ kěyǐ wèi nǐ diào bēi rèyǐn liào ma?

Can I fix you a hot drink?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yǐn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 饮 (yǐn) mean in Chinese?
饮 (yǐn) primarily means "to drink." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1559 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 饮 and 接?
饮 (yǐn) and 接 (jiē) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 饮 (give) vs 接 (receive).
How many strokes does 饮 have?
饮 is written with 7 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 饮?
The radical associated with 饮 is 饣 (eat). This radical appears in many characters related to eat.
What are the components of 饮?
饮 is composed of: 饣 (semantic), 欠 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰饣欠 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 饮?
Common words with 饮 include: 饮料 (yǐn liào, "drink"); 饮食 (yǐn shí, "eating and drinking"); 饮酒 (yǐn jiǔ, "to drink wine"); 餐饮 (cān yǐn, "food and beverage"); 畅饮 (chàng yǐn, "to have a few drinks"). There are over 58 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 饮 (yǐn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yǐn: 因 (cause), 阴 (overcast (weather)), 姻 (marriage connections). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 饮 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 饮 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.