岳 (yuè) is a Chinese character meaning “a high, great mountain”. It is written from 丘 (hill; mound) and 山 (mountain), one above the other, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “high mountain”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
丘 + 山
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: modern-glyph decomposition (⿱丘山)；对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画数核验 5+3=8
Memory aid
A hill (丘) sitting on top of a mountain (山) — pile them up and you get something taller than either: a great peak, 岳.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 岳父yuè fùfather-in-law (wife's father)岳 = yuè
- 山岳shān yuèmountains; high mountain ranges岳 = yuè
Go deeper
All readings
high mountain
a high, great mountain; also used in kinship terms for a wife's parents (岳父, 岳母)
高大的山。也用于称妻子的父亲、母亲（岳父、岳母）。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 岳父yuè fùfather-in-law (wife's father)岳 = yuè
- 山岳shān yuèmountains; high mountain ranges岳 = yuè
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 岳 mean?
岳 (yuè) means a high, great mountain; also used in kinship terms for a wife's parents (岳父, 岳母).
How do you pronounce 岳?
It is pronounced yuè.
What parts is 岳 made of?
丘 (hill; mound) and 山 (mountain), one above the other. The recorded source is: modern-glyph decomposition (⿱丘山)；对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画数核验 5+3=8. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 岳 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 岳?
山. 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 岳?
Common ones are 岳父 and 山岳. The reading of 岳 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.