饿 (è) is a Chinese character meaning “hungry”. It is written from 饣 (food radical (simplified form of 食)) and 我 (I; me), side by side, and takes 10 strokes.
Build the character for “hungry”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
饣 + 我
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字（餓：飢也。从食我聲）
Memory aid
The food radical 饣 sits right next to 我 ("I, me"). All that food, and all I can think is: me, me, me — I'm hungry.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
10 strokes
In real words
- 饥饿jī èhunger; starving饿 = è
- 挨饿ái èto go hungry; to suffer hunger饿 = è
Go deeper
All readings
hungry
hungry; to starve; to let go hungry
肚子空，想吃东西；也指使受饿。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 饥饿jī èhunger; starving饿 = è
- 挨饿ái èto go hungry; to suffer hunger饿 = è
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 饿 mean?
饿 (è) means hungry; to starve; to let go hungry.
How do you pronounce 饿?
It is pronounced è.
What parts is 饿 made of?
饣 (food radical (simplified form of 食)) and 我 (I; me), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字（餓：飢也。从食我聲）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 饿 have?
10. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 饿?
饣. 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 饿?
Common ones are 饥饿 and 挨饿. The reading of 饿 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.