乐 lè music; happy
Made up of [丿 piě 'slash' radical 4]Alternative traditional form of character: 樂
Made with 5 strokes.
Original a picture of five drums for the five musical notes, now simplified to a music stand. The same character is used for 'joy' with different pronunciation 'yue'
Related characters
Also uses 丿 piě component: 必 bì (certainly) 弟 dì (younger brother) 乎 hū (at) 久 jiǔ (long time) 九 jiǔ (nine) 么 me (what) 乃 nǎi (to be) 年 nián (year) 少 shǎo (less) 生 shēng (produce) 失 shī (to lose) 勿 wù (do not) 戊 wù (fifth (ordinal)) 午 wǔ (noon) 义 yì (justice) 之 zhī (him) 族 zú (clan)
Different tone
了 le ('completed')Alternative pronunciation : yuè
Pronunciation
Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net ➚ under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License
Cities
乐山 Leshan, SichuanPeople
永乐帝 Emperor YongleProverbs
安居乐业 ān jū lè yè Wishing you well in a new home乐极生悲 lè jí shēng bēi Wallowing in pleasure will lead to regrets afterwards. Restrain yourself or you'll regret it
幸灾乐祸 xìng zāi lè huò The story is of a king who delighted in the plight of the neighboring kingdom that was suffering from famine and would not help them even though he had received help when his people were suffering. So it means sadistic glee.
乐不思蜀 lè bù sī Shǔ Lost in present pleasures so as to forget home and duties. Said of Liu Chan ruler of the Shu kingdom (Sichuan province) who when defeated and in exile heard songs of his old kingdom but did not become melancholy like his other guests. So it refers to someone living in the present and not caring about the past. Lost in the moment
伯乐识马 Bó Lè shí mǎ A person of good judgment. Someone who can quickly appreciate skill. The idiom refers to Bo Le from the Warring States period who was an acclaimed judge of horses. It is said that he came upon an old horse trudging along. Only Bo Le could see that this was once a great horse of strength and stamina.
乐此不疲 lè cǐ bù pí Said of a task that is enjoyable and so does not seem to be tiring. Can also be applied to a pleasurable task that you never get tired of doing.