HSK 6 · Adjectives

鸦雀无声 yāquèwúshēng “silence reigns” in Chinese

Traditional 鴉雀無聲

What 鸦雀无声 means

  1. silence reigns
  2. total silence
  3. absolute silence (idiom)
  4. not a single voice can be heard
  5. absolute silence

How to say 鸦雀无声

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale鸦yā1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale雀què4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale无wú2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale声shēng1st tone, high and level

鸦雀无声 in a sentence

  1. 突然间，鸦雀无声。

    Tūránjiān, yāquèwúshēng.

    Suddenly, there was total silence.

    Sentence #7976851 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 鸦雀无声 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 鸦 (yā) with each of its parts in a different colour
鸦yācrow
  • 牙tooth · yáSound part
  • 鸟bird · diǎoMeaning part

鸟 hints at the meaning (bird); 牙 (yá) hints at the sound. Compare it with yā.

The character 雀 (què) with each of its parts in a different colour
雀quèsmall bird
  • 小small · xiǎo
  • 隹short-tailed bird · zhuī
The character 无 (wú) with each of its parts in a different colour
无wúnot to have
  • 一one · yī
  • 尢lame · wāng
The character 声 (shēng) drawn as one shape
声shēngsound

声 is a single shape of 7 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidSimplified from 聲, which has an ear 耳 at the bottom: a sound, a voice.

How to write 鸦雀无声

鸦 9 strokes · 雀 11 strokes · 无 4 strokes · 声 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 鸦雀无声

Words with 无

无wú · not to have无聊wúliáo · bored无论wúlùn · no matter what or how无法wúfǎ · to be unable to无奈wúnài · to have no alternative无数wúshù · countless无所谓wúsuǒwèi · to not matter无赖wúlài · rogue无比wúbǐ · incomparable无耻wúchǐ · shameless

Words with 声

声shēng · sound声音shēngyīn · sound声调shēngdiào · tone (of a syllable)声明shēngmíng · statement相声xiàngsheng · comic dialogue (crosstalk)声势shēngshì · momentum声誉shēngyù · reputation

More words: Adjectives

严厉yánlì · strict严密yánmì · tight耀眼yàoyǎn · dazzling遥远yáoyuǎn · distant野蛮yěmán · barbaric异常yìcháng · abnormal一贯yíguàn · consistent一流yìliú · first-class

FAQs

鸦雀无声 (yāquèwúshēng) means “silence reigns” or “total silence”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it yāquèwúshēng: yā with a 1st tone, then què with a 4th tone, then wú with a 2nd tone, then shēng with a 1st 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, 鸦雀无声 is written 鴉雀無聲. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yaquewusheng with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 鸦雀无声 from the suggestions. Typing yaquewusheng into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
鸦雀无声 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.