What does 也 mean in Chinese?

也 (yě) means "also, too" in Chinese. The new HSK exam expects you to recognise it at HSK 1.

How do you write 也?

也 is written with 3 strokes, starting from the 乙 (second) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 也?

The radical of 也 is 乙 (second, Kangxi radical #5). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 了, 习, 书, 买.

How many strokes does 也 have?

The Chinese character 也 has 3 strokes.

What HSK level is 也?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 也 is a character to recognise at HSK 1 and to write by hand at HSK 2 (the handwriting list HSK 1 and 2 share).

也 (yě): Meaning, Stroke Order, Radical & Examples

也

yě

also, too

HSK 1 character 3 strokes Radical: 乙 (second)

Quick Answer

也 (yě) means "also, too" with 3 strokes, radical 乙 (second), HSK 1 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 也 →Animated stroke-order for 也 →

Pronunciation

yě

Meaning

Primary: also

Other meanings:

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

也 does not appear in oracle-bone inscriptions and is first attested in bronze and seal script. The Shuowen Jiezi interprets the seal form as a pictograph of female genitalia, while later paleographers have argued it depicts a water basin or a serpent-like vessel. The original concrete referent is genuinely contested and there is no settled consensus.

Form evolution

Bronze-era forms are rare and variable. Seal script shows a rounded shape with a hooked tail, which clerical script flattens and squares off. The modern three-stroke 也 of kaishu preserves the seal shape's horizontal top, central vertical, and sweeping hooked final stroke quite faithfully.

How the meaning evolved

Whatever its original concrete meaning, 也 was already functioning as a grammatical particle in the earliest transmitted texts. In Classical Chinese it was the standard sentence-final copular and emphatic particle, marking judgements of the form 'A, B 也' meaning 'A is B'. Modern Mandarin has dropped the classical function entirely and uses 也 as the common adverb meaning 'also, too'.

Cultural note

The classical usage survives in set phrases and in any exposure to literary Chinese: 孔子曰 … 也 is the default frame for Confucian sayings. Learners who have only seen the modern 'also' sense are often puzzled when they first encounter 也 at the end of a Classical sentence, where it carries no adverbial meaning at all.

Mnemonic

A snake-like curve — also, too

Basic info

Pinyin	yě
Meanings	also, too
Stroke count	3 strokes
Radical	乙 (#5: second)
New HSK exam	Recognise at HSK 1, write by hand at HSK 1-2
Frequency	#1011 most common