Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced liao
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced liao, including 料 liào, 疗 liáo, 聊 liáo, 辽 liáo, 僚 liáo. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
liao joins the initial l to the final iao in one motion — say it as a single Mandarin beat with the tone over it, not as English letters in a row.
Initial l
Start the syllable on the initial l, then run straight into the final iao — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final iao
Settle the final iao into a steady mouth shape first, then lay the tone on top.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (料 liào, 疗 liáo, 聊 liáo, 辽 liáo, 僚 liáo) and lock in their tones. 5 common characters share the sound liao, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
liao turns up here with 2 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 疗, 聊, 辽… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 料 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing liao inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
5 common characters in this group.