音乐
music
HSK level
- Pinyin
- yīnyuè
- Part of speech
- noun
- Level
- HSK 3
- Strokes
- 14
- Register
- neutral
- Measure word
- 首 / 段
- In episodes
- 1
Stroke order for 音乐
音乐 is written with 14 strokes (音: 9, 乐: 5). The animation replays automatically.
What does 音乐 mean?
音乐 (yīnyuè) is the Chinese word for 'music' as an art form, a category, and the general phenomenon of organised sound — everything from classical to pop to film scores.
It is a compound of 音 'sound' + 乐 'joy, pleasure' (read yuè here, not lè), so the literal sense is 'sounds of pleasure'. Two things English speakers should note. First, 音乐 refers to music as a whole or as a category; an individual song is 歌 (gē) or 歌曲 (gēqǔ), and a piece of instrumental music is 曲子 (qǔzi).
You 听音乐 ('listen to music') in general but 唱歌 ('sing songs') for individual pieces. Second, the second character 乐 has two readings: lè 'happy' (快乐) and yuè 'music' (音乐). The yuè reading appears only in music-related compounds.
Character by character
Memory hook: 音 (sound) + 乐 (pleasure) = sounds that bring pleasure = music.
Hear 音乐 in real episodes
音乐 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
他在大学里学的是法语，不是音乐。
At university he studied French, not music.
Liu Huan, Who Sang the 2008 Beijing Olympics Theme 'You and Me,' Dies at 63
Example sentences
我喜欢听音乐。
Wǒ xǐhuān tīng yīnyuè.
I like listening to music.
spoken
她在学音乐。
Tā zài xué yīnyuè.
She is studying music.
spoken
今天晚上有一个音乐会。
Jīntiān wǎnshang yǒu yí ge yīnyuèhuì.
There's a concert tonight.
neutral
我最喜欢中国的古典音乐。
Wǒ zuì xǐhuān Zhōngguó de gǔdiǎn yīnyuè.
I like Chinese classical music best.
neutral
音乐让人快乐。
Yīnyuè ràng rén kuàilè.
Music makes people happy.
written
Common phrases with 音乐
Synonyms
歌曲 means '(vocal) song' — a specific composition with words. 音乐 is the broader 'music' category, including instrumental. Listening to '一首歌曲' is listening to one song; listening to '音乐' is listening to music in general.
乐曲 is a more formal / written word for 'a musical piece / composition', typically instrumental. 音乐 is the umbrella term in everyday speech.
Don't confuse 音乐 with
FAQ
Related words from the same episodes
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