HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Speaking

聊 liáo “to chat” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 聊 means

  1. to chat
  2. (coll.) to chat

How to say 聊

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale聊liáo2nd tone, rising

聊 in a sentence

  1. 我们聊了一会儿。

    Wǒmen liáo le yíhuìr.

    We chatted for a while.

    Sentence #801914 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 我和她聊得很愉快。

    Wǒ hé tā liáo de hěn yúkuài.

    I had a lovely chat with her.

    Sentence #796062 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 他们在聊天。

    Tāmen zài liáotiān.

    They’re chatting.

    Sentence #11510522 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 聊 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 聊 (liáo) with each of its parts in a different colour
聊liáoto chat
  • 耳ear · ěrMeaning part
  • 卯part of the characterSound part

How to write 聊

聊 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 聊

Words with 聊

聊天liáotiān · to chat聊天儿liáotiānr · to chat无聊wúliáo · bored

More words: Speaking & Communication

听说tīngshuō · to hear (it said that)怎么办zěnmebàn · what should I do?邮件yóujiàn · mail邮箱yóuxiāng · email inbox外语wàiyǔ · foreign language聊天儿liáotiānr · to chat晚安wǎn'ān · good night祝zhù · to wish (someone well)

FAQs

聊 (liáo) means “to chat” or “(coll.) to chat”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it liáo: liáo with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 聊 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type liao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 聊 from the suggestions. Typing liao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
聊 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 4 word list. It is not on the older 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.