饿 (è) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

饿

è[e4]Tone 4

hungry

HSK 1

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餓

Guru Deep Dive

English · hungry

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:10

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (the food radical) should be compact and narrower than the right side, leaving enough breathing room for the complex phonetic component on the right.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 餓 uses 飠 (the food radical variant) on the left. The simplified form uses 饣, reducing the stroke count of the radical from 8 strokes to 3 strokes.

1. Meaning

hungry

to starveto be in want of food

AdjectiveNeutral#physical state#sensation#appetite

Sample Usage

我饿了。
wǒ è le.
I am hungry.
快点吃饭吧，我都快饿死了！
kuài diǎn chī fàn ba, wǒ dōu kuài è sǐ le!
Hurry up and eat, I am almost starving to death!

2. Sound

/[ɤ⁵¹]/Tone: 51

饿

èe4

`(51)

=è

Initial Consonant

∅

Type: Zero Initial (Pure Vowel)

Sounds like: y / w

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Starts directly on the vowel sound without consonant obstruction.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Open vocal tract directly into the target vowel shape.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -e vowel group

Sounds like: rhymes with the 'u' sound in 'hut' or 'hut' without the final t

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

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

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts at the upper register of your vocal range and drops abruptly to the bottom, similar to a sharp command in English.

👂

Listening trap: Beginners often mistake Tone 4 for Tone 3 because they drag the pitch out instead of making it crisp and falling.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 4 starts high and plunges sharply downward like a sudden nod of agreement or an emphatic 'No!'.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 10 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (the food radical) should be compact and narrower than the right side, leaving enough breathing room for the complex phonetic component on the right.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 餓 uses 飠 (the food radical variant) on the left. The simplified form uses 饣, reducing the stroke count of the radical from 8 strokes to 3 strokes.

4. Components

Radical 饣 · Food Radical (food, eating, nourishment)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 饣 (indicates that the meaning is related to food or eating)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 我 (original sound: wǒ)

You (我) need food (饣) because your stomach is empty and you feel hungry (è).

饣 food radical (left side)
我 phonetic component providing the sound base (right side)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the semantic radical 饣 (food) and the phonetic component 我 (wǒ), representing a phonetic loan or sound alignment combined with the category of eating.

Semantic Evolution: Originally referred to lack of food or starvation, evolving to cover general hunger and the feeling of needing a meal.

In ancient times, food security was paramount, making characters related to hunger and eating central to daily survival.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ガク / Kun: うえ.る

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

아

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Picture yourself saying 'I (我) need food (饣) right now!' because your stomach is completely empty and you feel so hungry (è).

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

蛾

émothAdd the insect radical (虫) on the left instead of food.

哦

òoh! (interjection)Add the mouth radical (口) on the left to indicate speaking or exclaiming.

鹅

égooseAdd the bird radical (鸟) on the right side.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

蛾(é)

蛾 has an insect radical (虫) because a moth is a bug, whereas 饿 has a food radical (饣) because hunger is about food.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我工作了一整天，现在非常[___]。

Clue: è

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the phonetic part '我' with unrelated components, or mispronouncing the Tone 4 drop by making it a flat tone.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 饿 mean and how is it pronounced with tones?

Production: How do you write the character for 'hungry' using the food radical and phonetic component?

饿èhungry

Speed:

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