窈 窕

yǎo tiǎodictionary entry

(literary) (of a woman) graceful and refined / comely / (esp.) slender / slim / (literary) (of a bower, a mountain stream or a boudoir within a palace etc) secluded

Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-c6ee730d6da633ba. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

窈窕 窈窕 [yao3 tiao3] /(literary) (of a woman) graceful and refined; comely; (esp.) slender; slim/(literary) (of a bower, a mountain stream or a boudoir within a palace etc) secluded/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

窈
yǎo
(literary) deep / profound / dim (variant of 杳[yǎo])
窕
tiǎo
quiet and secluded / gentle, graceful, and elegant

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.