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HSK 3

饿

hungry; to starve

adjectiveneutral
饿
è4th tone

HSK level

1
2
3
4
5
6
Pinyin
è
Part of speech
adjective
Level
HSK 3
Strokes
10
Register
neutral

Stroke order for 饿

饿 is written with 10 strokes. The animation replays automatically.

What does 饿 mean?

饿 (è) is the everyday Chinese word for 'hungry' and, less commonly, the verb 'to starve.'

As a stative verb / adjective it normally takes degree adverbs — 很饿 ('very hungry'), 有点饿 ('a bit hungry'), 饿死了 ('starving to death,' i.e. 'I'm so hungry'). Unlike English, you do not say '是饿' or 'I am hungry' with a copula; Chinese drops the 'to be' before adjectives, so the natural sentence is 我饿了 ('I'm hungry now'), where 了 marks the change of state.

饿 can also act as a causative verb meaning 'to starve someone' — 别饿着孩子 ('don't let the child go hungry'). The radical 饣 (food) hints at the meaning. The opposite is 饱 (bǎo, 'full'), and the two are taught as a pair.

Example sentences

我饿了，我们去吃饭吧。

Wǒ è le, wǒmen qù chīfàn ba.

I'm hungry — let's go eat.

spoken

你饿不饿？

Nǐ è bu è?

Are you hungry?

spoken

我快饿死了！

Wǒ kuài è sǐ le!

I'm starving!

colloquial

孩子还小，别让他饿着。

Háizi hái xiǎo, bié ràng tā è zhe.

The child is still little — don't let him go hungry.

neutral

早上没吃饭，现在有点儿饿。

Zǎoshang méi chīfàn, xiànzài yǒudiǎnr è.

I didn't have breakfast, so I'm a bit hungry now.

spoken

Common phrases with 饿

我饿了wǒ è leI'm hungry (now)
饿死了è sǐ lestarving (literally 'hungry to death')
肚子饿dùzi èstomach is hungry; feel hungry
饿肚子è dùzigo hungry; skip a meal
有点儿饿yǒudiǎnr èa little hungry

Synonyms

饥饿jī'è

饥饿 is the formal / written noun for 'hunger' (as in 'world hunger' 世界饥饿). For 'I'm hungry,' always use 饿, never 饥饿.

Don't confuse 饿 with

渴kě

渴 is 'thirsty,' not 'hungry.' 我饿 = 'I'm hungry'; 我渴 = 'I'm thirsty.' Both follow the same pattern (no 是).

鹅é

鹅 ('goose') has the same pronunciation but with a second tone (é, rising) instead of fourth tone (è, falling). 饿 also has 饣 ('food') on the left; 鹅 has 鸟 ('bird') on the right.

饱bǎo

饱 ('full') is the antonym. Easy to mix up because both have the 饣 ('food') radical. 吃饱了 = 'eaten one's fill'; 饿了 = 'gotten hungry'.

FAQ

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