Characters/Building Blocks/乐

Building Blockssingle whole character

乐lè, yuè, yào, lào

happy; glad; cheerful; fun; delight; willing; glad to do something; amusing; funny

乐 has two everyday lives: lè 'happy' (快乐, 乐趣) and yuè 'music' (音乐, 乐器).

GF0025–2021 character list · 二级

One character pageAll readings and linked senses stay together.

WHOLE GLYPH & STRUCTURE

single whole character

Taught as one written unit. ZDIC: 原为象形 — the old form 樂 pictured a music stand. The simplified shape carries both lè 'happy' and yuè 'music', so no single modern split is taught.

single whole character · 乐

happy; glad; cheerful; fun; delight; willing; glad to do something; amusing; funny

The recall card shows the character without its English answer until you reveal it.

WHOLE CHARACTER

乐lè, yuè, yào, lào

happy; glad; cheerful; fun; delight; willing; glad to do something; amusing; funny

乐 has two everyday lives: lè 'happy' (快乐, 乐趣) and yuè 'music' (音乐, 乐器).

Taught as one written unit. ZDIC: 原为象形 — the old form 樂 pictured a music stand. The simplified shape carries both lè 'happy' and yuè 'music', so no single modern split is taught.

lèTone 4

happy; glad; cheerful
fun; delight
willing; glad to do something
amusing; funny

快乐kuàilèhappy
乐趣lèqùfun; delight
可乐kělèamusing; also cola

yuèTone 4

music
a musical instrument; tone

音乐yīnyuèmusic
乐器yuèqìmusical instruments
乐曲yuèqǔa musical composition

yàoTone 4literary

to delight in; to be fond of (classical)

ZDIC header reading yào is classical use (喜好、欣赏, as in 知者乐水); not a modern common reading, so it gets no learner words.

No common modern word is offered for this reading; the dictionary sense remains in Sources.

làoTone 4variant; place-name use

used in place names (乐亭, 乐陵)

ZDIC header reading lào is a place-name reading (河北省乐亭、山东省乐陵); not a general modern reading, so it gets no learner words.

No common modern word is offered for this reading; the dictionary sense remains in Sources.

Checking for a Mandarin voice…