姚 (yáo) is a Chinese character meaning “Yao, a Chinese family name”. It is written from 女 (woman; female) and 兆 (omen; a trillion), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “Yao (a surname)”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
女 + 兆
Left–right structure
Structure from: modern-glyph-decomposition (hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验: 女3 + 兆6 = 9)
Memory aid
A woman (女) reading the cracks of an omen (兆) to foretell her family’s future — picture her whenever you meet the family name Yáo.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 姚黄yáo huángYao yellow (a famous yellow tree-peony variety)姚 = yáo
Go deeper
All readings
Yao (a surname)
Yao, a Chinese family name; also seen in 姚黄, a famous yellow tree-peony variety
姓。也用于「姚黄」（牡丹名品）等词。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 姚黄yáo huángYao yellow (a famous yellow tree-peony variety)姚 = yáo
Sound component
兆 family diverged
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 姚 mean?
姚 (yáo) means Yao, a Chinese family name; also seen in 姚黄, a famous yellow tree-peony variety.
How do you pronounce 姚?
It is pronounced yáo.
What parts is 姚 made of?
女 (woman; female) and 兆 (omen; a trillion), side by side. The recorded source is: modern-glyph-decomposition (hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验: 女3 + 兆6 = 9). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 姚 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 姚?
女. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 姚?
Common ones are 姚黄. The reading of 姚 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.