HSK 6 · Science

火药 huǒyào “gunpowder” in Chinese

Traditional 火藥

What 火药 means

  1. gunpowder

How to say 火药

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale火huǒ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale药yào4th tone, falling

火药 in a sentence

  1. 你们知道谁发明了火药吗？

    Nǐmen zhīdao shéi fāmíng le huǒyào ma?

    Do you know who invented gunpowder?

    Sentence #9970061 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 火药 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 火 (huǒ) with each of its parts in a different colour
火huǒfire
  • 丷eight form of 八 · bā
  • 人person · rén

Memory aidDrawn from rising flames.

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 火药

火 4 strokes · 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.

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

Words related to 火药

Words with 火

火车huǒchē · train火车站huǒchēzhàn · train station火huǒ · fire着火zháohuǒ · to catch fire火柴huǒchái · match (for lighting fire)恼火nǎohuǒ · annoyed火箭huǒjiàn · rocket火焰huǒyàn · flame涮火锅shuànhuǒguō · to eat hotpot

Words with 药

药yào · medicine药店yàodiàn · pharmacy

More words: Science & Technology

航天hángtiān · spaceflight合成héchéng · to synthesise话筒huàtǒng · microphone火箭huǒjiàn · rocket尖端jiānduān · cutting-edge结晶jiéjīng · crystal进化jìnhuà · evolution酒精jiǔjīng · alcohol

FAQs

火药 (huǒyào) means “gunpowder”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it huǒyào: huǒ with a 3rd tone, then 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, 火药 is written 火藥. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type huoyao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 火药 from the suggestions. Typing huoyao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
火药 is an HSK 6 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.