啦

啦 U+5566, 啦 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5566 ← 啥 [U+5565] CJK Unified Ideographs 啧 → [U+5567]

Translingual

Han character

啦 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+8, 11 strokes, cangjie input 口手卜廿 (RQYT), four-corner 6001₈, composition ⿰口拉)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: not present, would follow page 196, character 26
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3882
• Dae Jaweon: page 418, character 17
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 636, character 5
• Unihan data for U+5566

Chinese

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声): semantic 口 (“mouth”) + phonetic 拉.

Etymology 1

simp. and trad.		啦

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): la (la⁵／la⁰)

  (Zhuyin): ˙ㄌㄚ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: la
    • Zhuyin: ˙ㄌㄚ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: lå
    • Wade–Giles: la⁵
    • Yale: la
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: .la
    • Palladius: ла (la)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lä/

Definitions

啦

1. (Mandarin, colloquial) Contraction of 了啊 (le a).
   1. Used at the end of a sentence to indicate a change of state with a strong emotion.
   2. Used at the end of a sentence to inform the beginning of an action with a strong emotion.

Etymology 2

simp. and trad.		啦

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): lā (la¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄚ

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: lā
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄚ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: la
    • Wade–Giles: la¹
    • Yale: lā
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lha
    • Palladius: ла (la)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lä⁵⁵/

Definitions

啦

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Etymology 3

simp. and trad.		啦

Pronunciation

• Cantonese (Jyutping): laa¹

---

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: laa¹
    • Yale: lā
    • Cantonese Pinyin: laa¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: la¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /laː⁵⁵/

Definitions

啦

1. (Cantonese) Placed at the end of a sentence in imperatives making it sound more like a request than an order.

   走啦！ [Cantonese]  ―  zau² laa¹! [Jyutping]  ―  Leave (please)!

2. (onomatopoeia) cheering sound

Usage notes

• Without the particle, the example is very impersonal and straightforward, whilst it is softened down with the particle 啦.
• The usage of this particle is usually spoken, but its written form can be used in some informal writing. With more formal settings of writing, the Mandarin particle 吧 (baa6) is used instead.

Synonyms

• (sentence-final particle):

Dialectal synonyms of 吧 (“(sentence-final particle used with a command or suggestion)”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		吧
Northeastern Mandarin	Taiwan	吧
	Singapore	啦, 吧
Cantonese	Guangzhou	啦
	Hong Kong	啦
	Singapore (Guangfu)	啦
Southern Min	Xiamen	閣
	Quanzhou	唷
	Zhangzhou	閣
	Taipei	喔
	Kaohsiung	喔
	Singapore (Hokkien)	啦
	Manila (Hokkien)	唷, 閣

Descendants

• → English: lah (or via Malay lah), la
• → Malay: lah, la, ah (Etymology 1, informal, clipping)
  • → English: lah (or directly from Cantonese 啦 (laa¹))

See also

• (Cantonese) 喇 (laa3), 嘞 (laak3)

Etymology 4

simp. and trad.		啦

Pronunciation

• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): --la / --lah

---

• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Philippines, Singapore)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: --la
    • Tâi-lô: --la
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Singapore)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: --lah
    • Tâi-lô: --lah

Definitions

啦

1. (Southern Min) Placed at the end of a sentence to denote completion of an action.
2. (Southern Min) Placed at the end of a sentence to denote dissatisfaction and perfunctoriness.
3. (Philippine Hokkien) Placed at the end of a sentence to denote affirmation.

   我食飽咯啦 [Philippine Hokkien, trad.]
   我食饱咯啦 [Philippine Hokkien, simp.]

   Góa chia̍h-pá--lo͘--la [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]

   I've eaten already, ok. / I'm full now, alright.

Etymology 5

From 了 + 啊

Pronunciation

• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁰la

---

• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁰la
    • MiniDict: la
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ⁰la
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /la/

Definitions

啦 (Shanghainese)

1. Placed on the end of a sentence to indicate a yes-no question.
   • 2007, 钱乃荣 [Qian Nairong], 上海话大词典 [Shànghǎihuà dàcídiǎn], 上海辞书出版社, page 310:

     功課做好啦？ [Shanghainese, trad.]
     功课做好啦？ [Shanghainese, simp.]

     ¹kon-khu ⁵tsu-hau-la [Wugniu]

     Have you finished your homework?

Etymology 6

Pronunciation

• Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ⁰la

---

• Wu
  • (Northern: Shanghai)
    • Wugniu: ⁰la
    • MiniDict: la
    • Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ⁰la
    • Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /la/

Definitions

啦 (Shanghainese)

1. Used to indicate a persistent questioning tone
   • 2007, 钱乃荣 [Qian Nairong], 上海话大词典 [Shànghǎihuà dàcídiǎn], 上海辞书出版社, page 310:

     哪能辦啦？ [Shanghainese, trad.]
     哪能办啦？ [Shanghainese, simp.]

     ⁶na-nen ⁵pe ⁰la [Wugniu]

     How do you do this?

2. Used to indicate berating tone
   • 2007, 钱乃荣 [Qian Nairong], 上海话大词典 [Shànghǎihuà dàcídiǎn], 上海辞书出版社, page 310:

     儂哪能介糊塗啦！ [Shanghainese, trad.]
     侬哪能介糊涂啦！ [Shanghainese, simp.]

     ⁶non ⁶nan-nen ¹ka ⁶wu-du-la [Wugniu]

     How are you this disordered!

Compounds

• 劈里啪啦
• 吹啦
• 㕷啦
• 哩哩啦啦 (līlilālā)
• 唏哩花啦
• 啪啦 (pālā)
• 啦啦隊 / 啦啦队 (lālāduì)
• 嘎啦
• 嘰哩呱啦 / 叽哩呱啦 (jīliguālā)
• 嘩啦 / 哗啦
• 嘩啦啦 / 哗啦啦 (huālālā)
• 媠啦
• 稀里嘩啦

Japanese

Kanji

啦

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Readings

• Go-on: ろう (rō)^{←ろふ (rofu, historical)}
• Kan-on: ろう (rō)^{←らふ (rafu, historical)}

Vietnamese

Han character

啦: Hán Nôm readings: lạp, láp

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.