Meaning
to be hungry; hungry
Chinese: 饥饿。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “e” becomes a different word in each tone. 饿 is the 4th tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 饥饿jī èhunger; starvation; famine
- 忍饥挨饿rěn jī ái èstarving; famished
- 解饿jiě èto relieve hunger
- 饿死è sǐto starve to death; to be very hungry
- 饿鬼è guǐsb who is always hungry; glutton; (Buddhism) hungry ghost
Example Sentence
忙了一上午，我感到肚子很饿。Máng le yí shàng wǔ, wǒ gǎn dào dù zi hěn è.After being busy all morning, I feel very hungry.
忙Mángbusy了le(completed action)一yíone上午shàng wǔmorning，我wǒI感到gǎn dàoto feel肚子dù zibelly很hěnvery饿èhungry。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The food radical 饣 (meaning) plus 我 (wǒ → è, sound): lacking food — ‘hungry’. Simplified from 餓.
A way to remember it
Food (饣) wanted, with the sound 我 — hungry.
Easy to confuse with
- 我‘I / me’: the right-hand sound part of 饿, on its own.