肴 (yáo) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

肴

yáo[yao2]Tone 2

meat dishes

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · meat dishes

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:8

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (月/肉) is compressed horizontally to make room for the right component (肴), ensuring the entire character maintains a balanced square frame.

1. Meaning

meat dishes, cooked meat or delicacies

mixed viandsappetizing dishes accompanying wine

NounLiterary / FormalBound morpheme#food#cuisine#banquet

Sample Usage

美酒佳肴
měi jiǔ jiā yáo
fine wine and exquisite delicacies
菜肴
cài yáo
dishes of food, cooked dishes

2. Sound

/[jɑʊ̯³⁵]/Tone: 35

肴

yáoyao2

´(35)

=yáo

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

yao

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "a" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Glide (y)

Sounds like: Glide (y)

Unaspirated

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: No specific initial consonant obstruction; tongue starts flat and moves directly into the vowel diphthong.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: rhymes with yow in 'yowza'

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

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

Tone

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 rises from a middle pitch to a high pitch (35), identical to the inflection of an English speaker saying 'Huh?' or 'Really?' in disbelief.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the rising Tone 2 (yáo) with Tone 3 (yǎo) or Tone 4 (yào), especially because it is often seen in four-character idioms where tone sandhi and rapid speech can obscure the exact inflection.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 2 rises from mid to high pitch, matching an upward-curving pitch contour just like asking a question in English: 'Yow?'

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 8 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (月/肉) is compressed horizontally to make room for the right component (肴), ensuring the entire character maintains a balanced square frame.

4. Components

Radical 月 · Meat radical (flesh variant) (meat, flesh, body parts)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 月 (indicates meat or food ingredients (derived from 肉))

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 𠂹 + 𠂉 etc. (original sound: yao)

The character combines the meat radical (月/肉) on the left with the phonetic/sign element on the right (爻), showing prepared meats ready for a feast.

月 Meat / Flesh semantic root
爻 Intertwining / Structure phonetic and visual clue

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

4· Phonetic Root: 肴 (yáo)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally composed of meat (肉) combined with an element indicating crossing or arrangement (爻), representing cuts of meat neatly arranged or cooked together for sacrifices and feasts.

Semantic Evolution: From ancient sacrificial meats and arranged food offerings to general cooked meat dishes and culinary delicacies in modern Chinese.

In classical texts, 肴 frequently referred specifically to meat dishes contrasted with grain (饭).

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

hào

Mandarin rising tone 2 corresponds roughly to Vietnamese hỏi or sắc depending on historical register, here yielding hào.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: コウ (kō)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

효

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine setting up an elaborate FEAST of MEAT DISHES (月) where the skewers of meat are CROSSING OVER (爻) each other on the sizzling grill, making you shout 'YOW!' (yáo) at how delicious it looks.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

淆

xiáovariant of 淆[xiao2]+ 氵 (water)

崤

xiáoname of a mountain in Henan; also pr. [Yao2]+ 山 (mountain)

餚

+ 飠 (food)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

爻(yáo)

爻 represents crossing lines (used in divination), while 肴 adds the meat radical (月) to talk about food.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

春节回家，妈妈准备了满桌的鸡鸭鱼肉等美味佳[___]。

Clue: yáo

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the literary word 肴 (yáo) with the common everyday word 菜 (cài), forgetting that 肴 is typically reserved for formal, literary, or celebratory contexts like '佳肴' (delicacies).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see the character 肴 with the meat radical and right component 爻, what does it mean and how is it pronounced?

Production: How do you write the literary term for 'meat dishes / delicacies' (yáo) using the meat radical and phonetic part?

肴yáomeat dishes

Speed:

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