What does 要 mean in Chinese?

要 (yāo) means "to demand; to request; to coerce" in Chinese. It is an HSK Level 1 word.

How do you pronounce 要?

要 is pronounced "yāo" in Mandarin Chinese. The tone number is 1.

要 is an HSK Level 1 word (HSK 2.0: Level 1, HSK 3.0: Level 1).

Common words with 要 include 主要 (main), 只要 (if only), 不要 (don't!), 不要紧 (unimportant), 偏要 (to insist on doing sth).

要 has 9 strokes. Its radical is 覀. You can view the stroke order animation on our stroke order tool.

要

yāo

to demand; to request; to coerce

HSK 1verb9 strokes

要 = 覀 + 女

A woman under a cover — wanting shelter

Radical: 覀 (no. 146)Strokes: 9

我想要一杯水。

Wǒ xiǎng yào yī bēi shuǐ

I want a glass of water

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
主要	zhǔ yào	main	HSK 2
只要	zhǐ yào	if only	HSK 2
不要	bù yào	don't!	HSK 2
不要紧	bù yào jǐn	unimportant	HSK 4
偏要	piān yào	to insist on doing sth
切要	qiè yào	essential
势要	shì yào	influential figure
一定要	yī dìng yào	must
不必要	bù bì yào	needless
不要脸	bù yào liǎn	to have no sense of shame