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HSK 3

容易

easy; likely to

adjectiveneutral
róng2nd tone
4th tone

HSK level

1
2
3
4
5
6
Pinyin
róngyì
Part of speech
adjective
Level
HSK 3
Strokes
18
Register
neutral

Stroke order for 容易

容易 is written with 18 strokes (: 10, : 8). The animation replays automatically.

What does 容易 mean?

容易 (róngyì) means 'easy' — but also 'prone to / likely to,' which is the meaning English speakers usually miss.

As 'easy,' it works just like English: 这件事很容易 ('this thing is easy'). As 'prone to,' it appears before a verb: 容易感冒 ('prone to catching colds'), 容易忘 ('easy to forget / forgetful'), 容易生气 ('quick to anger'). This second use is hugely common in spoken Chinese and has no clean one-word English equivalent — translators reach for 'easily' or 'tends to.'

The opposite is (nán, hard / difficult). For 'not easy,' both 不容易 and work, but 不容易 often carries a tone of 'it wasn't easy / it was a struggle' rather than just neutral 'hard.'

Character by character

róngto contain; to hold; to allow
+
easy; to change
=
容易

Memory hook: Both characters can mean 'easy / yielding' on their own — together they reinforce: easy.

Example sentences

这个问题很容易。

Zhège wèntí hěn róngyì.

This question is very easy.

spoken

学中文不容易。

Xué Zhōngwén bù róngyì.

Learning Chinese isn't easy.

spoken

冬天容易感冒,多穿点衣服。

Dōngtiān róngyì gǎnmào, duō chuān diǎn yīfu.

It's easy to catch a cold in winter — wear more clothes.

spoken

我容易忘事,所以喜欢写下来。

Wǒ róngyì wàng shì, suǒyǐ xǐhuan xiě xiàlái.

I tend to forget things, so I like to write them down.

spoken

找到工作不太容易。

Zhǎodào gōngzuò bú tài róngyì.

It's not that easy to find a job.

neutral

Common phrases with 容易

很容易hěn róngyìvery easy
不容易bù róngyìnot easy; it was a struggle
容易感冒róngyì gǎnmàoprone to catching colds
容易忘róngyì wàngeasy to forget; forgetful
说起来容易shuō qǐlái róngyìeasier said than done

Synonyms

简单jiǎndān

简单 means 'simple / uncomplicated' — about structure or complexity. 容易 is about difficulty level. A 简单的问题 is a simple question (few parts); a 容易的问题 is an easy question (low difficulty). Often overlap, but a problem can be 简单 yet still tricky.

Don't confuse 容易 with

róng

alone is mostly used in compounds (容易, 容貌, 内容) and rarely stands by itself in modern Mandarin. Always pair it.

简单jiǎndān

Means 'simple' — about complexity, not difficulty. 容易 is about how easy something is to do.

FAQ

Acquire it by listening

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