HSK 6 · Verbs

意料 yìliào “expectation” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 意料 means

  1. expectation
  2. to anticipate
  3. to expect
  4. expectations

How to say 意料

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale意yì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale料liào4th tone, falling

意料 in a sentence

  1. 事情的发展完全出乎我意料。

    Shìqing de fāzhǎn wánquán chūhū wǒ yìliào.

    Things turned out completely differently from what I’d expected.

    Sentence #13825989 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 让我出乎意料的是，他居然很会唱歌。

    Ràng wǒ chūhūyìliào de shì, tā jūrán hěn huì chànggē.

    To my surprise, he’s actually a good singer.

    Sentence #10104129 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 这出乎意料地容易。

    Zhè chūhūyìliào de róngyì.

    This was surprisingly easy.

    Sentence #5091377 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 意料 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 意 (yì) with each of its parts in a different colour
意yìidea; thought; meaning; sense
  • 音sound · yīnSound part
  • 心heart · xīnMeaning part

心 hints at the meaning (heart); 音 (yīn) hints at the sound. Compare it with yì.

Memory aidA sound 音 from the heart 心: a thought, a meaning.

The character 料 (liào) with each of its parts in a different colour
料liàomaterial
  • 米rice · mǐ
  • 斗dipper · dǒu

Memory aidRice 米 measured with a dipper 斗: material, to estimate.

How to write 意料

意 13 strokes · 料 10 strokes

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

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

Words related to 意料

Words with 意

意思yìsi · meaning没意思méiyìsi · boring有意思yǒuyìsi · interesting不好意思bùhǎoyìsi · to feel embarrassed同意tóngyì · agree愿意yuànyì · be willing注意zhùyì · pay attention to满意mǎnyì · satisfied意见yìjiàn · idea得意déyì · proud of oneself

Words with 料

饮料yǐnliào · beverage材料cáiliào · (raw) material塑料袋sùliàodài · plastic bag资料zīliào · material原料yuánliào · raw material调料tiáoliào · seasoning预料yùliào · to expect不料búliào · unexpectedly

More words: Thinking & Talking

喧哗xuānhuá · to make a loud noise宣扬xuānyáng · to publicise演绎yǎnyì · to deduce验证yànzhèng · to verify隐瞒yǐnmán · to conceal引用yǐnyòng · to quote意识yìshi · consciousness意味着yìwèizhe · to mean

FAQs

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