HSK 6 · Ideas
要素 yàosù “key element” in Chinese
Same in Traditional
What 要素 means
- key element
- essential factor
- key constituent
How to say 要素
要yào4th tone, falling
素sù4th tone, falling
要素 in a sentence
How 要素 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.

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”.

素sùraw silk
- 龶part of the character
- 糸silk · mì
How to write 要素
要 9 strokes · 素 10 strokes
Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

Words related to 要素
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 素
因素yīnsù · element素食sùshí · vegetarian food朴素pǔsù · plain元素yuánsù · element素质sùzhì · quality维生素wéishēngsù · vitamin
More words: Ideas & Concepts
FAQs
要素 (yàosù) means “key element” or “essential factor”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it yàosù: yào with a 4th tone, then sù with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 要素 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yaosu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 要素 from the suggestions. Typing yaosu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
要素 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.
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.