HSK 2 · Body

药 yào “medicine” in Chinese

Traditional 藥

What 药 means

  1. medicine
  2. drug
  3. substance used for a specific purpose (e.g. poisoning, explosion, fermenting)
  4. to poison

Measure word 种 zhǒng or 服 fù · 一种药 yì zhǒng yào

How to say 药

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale药yào4th tone, falling

药 in a sentence

  1. 我应该吃这种药吗？

    Wǒ yīnggāi chī zhè zhǒng yào ma?

    Should I take this medicine?

    Sentence #1471129 from Tatoeba

  2. 这点药一天吃三次。

    Zhè diǎn yào yì tiān chī sān cì.

    Take this medicine three times a day.

    Sentence #420954 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 这药会让你好受点。

    Zhè yào huì ràng nǐ hǎoshòu diǎn.

    This medicine will make you feel a bit better.

    Sentence #334625 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 药 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 药 (yào) with each of its parts in a different colour
药yàoleaf of the iris
  • 艹grass form of 艸 · cǎoMeaning part
  • 约treaty · yāoSound part

艹 hints at the meaning (grass); 约 (yāo) hints at the sound. Compare it with yào.

How to write 药

药 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 药

Words with 药

药店yàodiàn · pharmacy火药huǒyào · gunpowder

More words: People, Body & Health

生病shēngbìng · to get sick眼睛yǎnjing · eye身体shēntǐ · body累lèi · tired男孩儿nánháir · boy女孩儿nǚháir · girl小孩儿xiǎoháir · child姓名xìngmíng · full name

FAQs

药 (yào) means “medicine” or “drug”. It is an HSK 2 word, so it is one of the words learners meet early.
Say it yào: yào with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 药 is written 藥. The pronunciation is the same.
Use 种 (zhǒng) or 服 (fù). For example, one medicine is 一种药 (yì zhǒng yào).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 药 from the suggestions. Typing yao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
药 is an HSK 2 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.