也
Tap the pinyin to hear it
also; too; as well; (not ...) either; (used after a verbal or nominal expression X to indicate that X is an extreme or unexpected case) even (X); (literary) particle having functions similar to 啊[a5]
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How 也 is formed
Components 乚
? unknown part
How to remember it
also · Heisig RSH #505
fishhook — as a component also called: scorpion
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 也
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 人之将死，其言也善 | words of a man on his deathbed always come from the heart (proverb) | |
| 也好不了多少 | hardly any better; just as bad | |
| 空空如也 | as empty as anything (idiom); completely bereft; to have nothing; vacuous; hollow; empty (… | |
| 食色性也 | Appetite and lust are only natural (Mencius 6A:4).; By nature we desire food and sex. | |
| 来而不往非礼也 | not to reciprocate is against etiquette (classical); to respond in kind | |
| 满口之乎者也 | mouth full of literary phrases; to spout the classics | |
| 也好不到哪里去 | just as bad; not much better | |
| 也有今天 | (coll.) to get one's just deserts; to serve sb right; to get one's share of (good or bad t… | |
| 维也纳 | Vienna, capital of Austria | |
| 也就是说 | in other words; that is to say; so; thus | |
| 说也奇怪 | strangely enough; oddly enough; strange to say | |
| 蚊子再小也是肉 | lit. even a mosquito, though tiny, provides some nourishment (idiom); fig. it's better tha… | |
| 之乎者也 | (lit.) 之[zhi1], 乎[hu1], 者[zhe3] and 也[ye3] (four grammatical particles of Classical Chines… | |
| 想也没想 | without a second thought | |
| 陀思妥也夫斯基 | Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881), great Russian novelist, author of Crime and Pu… | |
| 也门 | Yemen | |
| 飞也似的 | lit. as if flying; very fast | |
| 我也是醉了 | (Internet slang) I can't even...; Are you kidding me!; OMG! | |
| 也就是 | in other words; i.e. | |
| 也好 | that's fine; may as well; (reduplicated) regardless of whether ... or ... |
Sound family
These characters use 也 as their sound component — compare how they read.