HSK 6 · Function Words

要命 yàomìng “terribly” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 要命 means

  1. terribly
  2. extremely
  3. to be deadly
  4. to cause sb’s death
  5. (used in complaining about sth) to be a nuisance

How to say 要命

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale要yào4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale命mìng4th tone, falling

要命 in a sentence

  1. 我突然肚痛得要命。

    Wǒ tūrán dùtòng de yàomìng.

    Suddenly my stomach hurt terribly.

    Sentence #372372 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 火车挤得要命，我们都找不到位子坐。

    Huǒchē jǐ de yàomìng, wǒmen dōu zhǎo bu dào wèizi zuò.

    The train was so packed that none of us could find a seat.

    Sentence #372204 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 子翔那个人太老实了，谈恋爱都被动得要命。

    Zǐxiáng nà ge rén tài lǎoshi le, tán liàn'ài dōu bèidòng de yàomìng.

    Zixiang is too much of a nice guy – he’s hopelessly passive in relationships.

    Sentence #13523793 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 要命 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 要 (yào) with each of its parts in a different colour
要yàoto want; to need; to ask for
  • 覀cover form of 襾 · yà
  • 女woman · nǚ

Memory aidOnce drawn as a person with hands on the waist, its first meaning. That meaning moved to 腰 (yāo), and 要 became “to want”.

The character 命 (mìng) with each of its parts in a different colour
命mìnglife
  • 令command · líng
  • 口mouth · kǒu

How to write 要命

要 9 strokes · 命 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 要命

Words with 要

不要bùyào · don’t!要yào · want快要kuàiyào · about to需要xūyào · to need要求yāoqiú · to request重要zhòngyào · important主要zhǔyào · main就要jiùyào · about to要是yàoshi · if只要zhǐyào · if only

Words with 命

生命shēngmìng · life寿命shòumìng · life span命令mìnglìng · order命运mìngyùn · fate性命xìngmìng · life (of a person or animal)命名mìngmíng · to name拼命pīnmìng · desperately任命rènmìng · to appoint革命gémìng · revolution使命shǐmìng · mission

More words: Function Words & Grammar

唯独wéidú · only未免wèimiǎn · rather务必wùbì · must无非wúfēi · nothing but亦yì · also以便yǐbiàn · so that依旧yījiù · as before以免yǐmiǎn · so as not to

FAQs

要命 (yàomìng) means “terribly” or “extremely”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it yàomìng: yào with a 4th tone, then mìng with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 要命 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yaoming with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 要命 from the suggestions. Typing yaoming into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
要命 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.