殃 (yāng) is a Chinese character meaning “calamity”. It is written from 歹 (bad; evil) and 央 (centre), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “calamity”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
歹 + 央
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字（殃，咎也。从歺央聲）
Memory aid
Something bad (歹) lands right in the centre (央) of your life — that is a calamity.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 遭殃zāo yāngto suffer a disaster; to get into trouble殃 = yāng
- 灾殃zāi yāngdisaster; calamity殃 = yāng
Go deeper
All readings
calamity
calamity; disaster; misfortune; to bring disaster upon
灾祸；祸害。也指使人受到祸害。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 遭殃zāo yāngto suffer a disaster; to get into trouble殃 = yāng
- 灾殃zāi yāngdisaster; calamity殃 = yāng
Sound component
央 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 殃 mean?
殃 (yāng) means calamity; disaster; misfortune; to bring disaster upon.
How do you pronounce 殃?
It is pronounced yāng.
What parts is 殃 made of?
歹 (bad; evil) and 央 (centre), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字（殃，咎也。从歺央聲）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 殃 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 殃?
歹. 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 殃?
Common ones are 遭殃 and 灾殃. The reading of 殃 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.