Dictionary › 要命

要命

yào mìng

Old HSK 6 HSK 3.0 level 7-9 2-character word

要命 (yào mìng) means "to cause sb's death; extremely; terribly; (used in complaining about sth) to be a nuisance". It is an HSK 3.0 level 7-9 word, and was HSK 6 in the old six-level list.

What 要命 means

1. to cause sb's death
2. extremely; terribly
3. (used in complaining about sth) to be a nuisance

The characters in 要命

• 要yàoto want; to need; to ask for; will; shall; about to; need to; should
• 命mìnglife; fate; order or command

Example sentences

• 我渴得要命。
  I'm dying of thirst.
• 你不要命啦！
  Are you nuts?
• 爱她爱得要命。
  ài tā ài de yàomìng.
  I love her so much I could die.
• 我爱她爱得要命。
  I love her so much I could die.
• 我突然肚痛得要命。
  Wǒ tūrán dùtòng děiyào mìng.
  All of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach.
• 火车挤得要命，我们都找不到位子坐。
  Huǒchē jǐ děiyào mìng, wǒmen dōu zhǎobudào wèizi zuò.
  The train was so crowded that none of us could get a seat.

Where 要命 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of HSK 6 Vocabulary · yào–yī (HSK 6), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 6 word, with the rest of its level.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read yào mìng correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.