养 (yǎng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

养

yǎng[yang3]Tone 3

to raise, bring up, support

HSK 2

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養

Guru Deep Dive

English · to raise, bring up, support

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:9

Writing Balance Rule: The top sheep component (羊) should be compressed slightly to leave ample room for the bottom food/eating radical (食) which acts as the solid base.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 養 retains the full traditional components, while the simplified form 养 merges and streamlines the upper and lower elements for faster handwriting.

1. Meaning

to raise or bring up (children, animals, or pets)

to support financially or care for elderly parentsto cultivate or maintain (health, habits, flowers, or a beard)to give birth to

VerbNeutral#family#caregiving#biology#lifestyle

Sample Usage

父母辛苦地养育我们长大。
fù mǔ xīn kǔ de yǎng yù wǒ men zhǎng dà.
Our parents worked hard to raise us to adulthood.
周末我喜欢在家养花种草。
zhōu mò wǒ xǐ huan zài jiā yǎng huā zhòng cǎo.
On weekends I like to raise flowers and grow plants at home.

2. Sound

/[jaŋ²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

养

yǎngyang3

ˇ(214)

=yǎng

Initial Consonant

Type: Palatal Glide (Zero Initial)

Sounds like: y sound as in 'yes'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Acts as a bridge into 'i' or 'ü' vowel sounds.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Front of the tongue raises toward the hard palate briefly as a semi-vowel glide before opening into the rhyme.

Final Rhyme

ang

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -ang rhymes with 'ung' in sung but with an 'ah' vowel quality

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ahng'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T3 (214)

2 → 1 → 4 (214)

3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips down like an incredulous English 'Really?' before rising back up.

Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, 养 (yǎng) shifts to a 2nd tone (35) due to Mandarin third-tone sandhi rules.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the 3rd tone yǎng with yáng (2nd tone rising) or yàng (4th tone falling), which completely alters the meaning from raising/supporting to ocean or appearance.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: dip down sharply from mid-pitch to low chest resonance, then sweep upward to a high finish.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 9 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top sheep component (羊) should be compressed slightly to leave ample room for the bottom food/eating radical (食) which acts as the solid base.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 養 retains the full traditional components, while the simplified form 养 merges and streamlines the upper and lower elements for faster handwriting.

4. Components

Radical 飠 · Food Radical (food, eating, provisions)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 飠 (indicates providing food, nourishment, and sustenance for raising someone)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 羊 (original sound: yang)

To raise (养) something, you need a sheep (羊) for meat and wool, combined with food (食) to feed and sustain it.

飠 food or nourishment base
羊 sheep or phonetic sound clue

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

25· Phonetic Root: 羊 (yáng)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally a phono-semantic compound where 羊 (sheep) provided the pronunciation and a food/eating element provided the meaning of feeding and raising livestock.

Semantic Evolution: Began specifically with raising and feeding livestock like sheep, then broadened to include raising children, supporting family members, and cultivating personal health or habits.

In ancient agrarian society, sheep were among the most valuable livestock to raise for survival.
The character highlights how feeding animals evolved conceptually into general nurturing and caregiving.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ヨウ (yō) / Kun: やしな.う (yashinau)

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

To properly **raise** (yǎng) a pet sheep (羊), you must constantly provide it with plenty of food and nourishment from your kitchen (食).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

详

xiángdetailedReplaces food radical with speech radical (讠), meaning detailed words.

样

yàngappearance, shapeReplaces food radical with tree/wood radical (木), meaning wooden mold or appearance.

洋

yángoceanReplaces food radical with water radical (氵), meaning vast waters.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

痒(yǎng)

Has the sickness/disease enclosure radical (疒) instead of food, meaning itchy.

样(yàng)

Has the wood radical (木) instead of food, meaning appearance or sample.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

父母辛苦地把我们[___]长大。

Clue: yǎng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing 养 (yǎng - to raise) with 样 (yàng - appearance) due to the identical right-hand phonetic component 羊.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see the food radical on top of 羊, what action does it signify?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to raise/support' (yǎng)?

养yǎngto raise, bring up, support

Speed:

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