HSK 4 · Food

辣 là “spicy” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 辣 means

  1. spicy
  2. hot (taste)
  3. hot (spicy)
  4. pungent
  5. (of chili pepper, raw onions etc) to sting
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • to burn

How to say 辣

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale辣là4th tone, falling

辣 in a sentence

  1. 我不喜欢吃辣的。

    Wǒ bù xǐhuan chī là de.

    I don’t like spicy food.

    Sentence #813315 from Tatoeba

  2. 韩国菜一般都很辣。

    Hánguó cài yìbān dōu hěn là.

    Korean food is generally very spicy.

    Sentence #801315 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 说实话，这对我来说有点太辣了。

    Shuōshíhuà, zhè duì wǒ lái shuō yǒudiǎn tài là le.

    To tell you the truth, this is a little too spicy for me.

    Sentence #8556491 from Tatoeba

How 辣 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 辣 (là) with each of its parts in a different colour
辣làhot
  • 辛bitter · xīnMeaning part
  • 束to bind · shùSound part

辛 hints at the meaning (bitter); 束 (shù) hints at the sound. Compare it with là.

How to write 辣

辣 14 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

辣 (là) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 辣 (là). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 辣

Words with 辣

辣椒làjiāo · chilli

More words: Food & Drink

饺子jiǎozi · dumpling烤鸭kǎoyā · roast duck苦kǔ · bitter矿泉水kuàngquánshuǐ · mineral water葡萄pútao · grape巧克力qiǎokèlì · chocolate (loanword)勺子sháozi · scoop酸suān · sour

FAQs

辣 (là) means “spicy” or “hot (taste)”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it là: là with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 辣 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type la with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 辣 from the suggestions. Typing la into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
辣 is an HSK 4 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.