鸦 (yā) is a Chinese character meaning “crow”. It is written from 牙 (tooth) and 鸟 (bird), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “crow”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
牙 + 鸟
Left–right structure
Structure from: 现代字形拆分（IDS ⿰牙鸟；hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 笔画核验：牙4 + 鸟5 = 9 笔）
Memory aid
The right half, 鸟 (bird), tells you what this character is: a bird. The left half, 牙 (yá, tooth), has nothing to do with teeth here — it is carrying the sound: yá → yā. A bird named by its sound, not by its bite.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 乌鸦wū yācrow鸦 = yā
- 涂鸦tú yāgraffiti; to doodle; to scrawl鸦 = yā
Go deeper
All readings
crow
crow; rook
鸟名，即乌鸦，羽毛多为黑色，叫声粗哑。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 乌鸦wū yācrow鸦 = yā
- 涂鸦tú yāgraffiti; to doodle; to scrawl鸦 = yā
Sound component
牙 family tone diff
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 鸦 mean?
鸦 (yā) means crow; rook.
How do you pronounce 鸦?
It is pronounced yā.
What parts is 鸦 made of?
牙 (tooth) and 鸟 (bird), side by side. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分（IDS ⿰牙鸟；hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 笔画核验：牙4 + 鸟5 = 9 笔）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 鸦 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 鸦?
鸟. 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 鸦?
Common ones are 乌鸦 and 涂鸦. The reading of 鸦 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.