啞

简 哑 · 繁 啞
Mandarin · pinyin yā#

Meanings · yā

  1. (onom.) sound of cawing
  2. sound of infant learning to talk
  3. variant of 呀 yā
Mandarin · pinyin yǎ#

Meanings · yǎ

  1. mute; dumb; incapable of speech
  2. (of a voice) hoarse; husky
  3. (bound form) (of a bullet, bomb etc) dud
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

啞
Look up this written character
哑
yǎ · dumb, mute; become hoarse
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

1 · ya1

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

1character link18same-tone records1source reference
Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

啞 · find source passages ↗ · 哑 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

aa1 · aa2 · ak1

Cantonese word readings for 啞. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character

  1. mute; dumb (unable to speak)
  2. speechless; without sound
  3. hoarse
  4. (of a shell, bomb, etc.) to fail to explode; (of a firearm) to fail to fire

character

  1. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese, onomatopoeia) laughter; sound of laughing

character

  1. (alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 呀
  2. (onomatopoeia) The sound of cawing.
  3. (onomatopoeia) The sound of a child learning to speak.

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

啞 · ya1 · ya3
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source lines 22,322, 22,323
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source records啞 哑 [ya1] /(onom.) sound of cawing/sound of infant learning to talk/variant of 呀[ya1]/啞 哑 [ya3] /mute; dumb; incapable of speech/(of a voice) hoarse; husky/(bound form) (of a bullet, bomb etc) dud/