永 (yǒng): forever, always, perpetual
永 (yǒng) is a Chinese character meaning “forever.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 水 (structural). It ranks #842 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Definitions
- forever
- always
- perpetual
Stroke Order
Practice writing 永 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 永
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 永不adverb | yǒng bù | never |
| 永恒adjective | yǒng héng | eternal |
| 永久adjective | yǒng jiǔ | everlasting |
| 永生verb | yǒng shēng | to live forever |
| 永别verb | yǒng bié | to part forever |
| 永久性noun | yǒng jiǔ xìng | permanent |
| 永世noun | yǒng shì | eternal |
| 一劳永逸phrase | yī láo yǒng yì | to get sth done once and for all |
| 永存verb | yǒng cún | everlasting |
| 永吉proper-noun | yǒng jí | see 永吉縣|永吉县 |
| 永泰proper-noun | yǒng tài | see 永泰縣|永泰县 |
| 永济proper-noun | yǒng jì | see 永濟市|永济市 |
| 永登proper-noun | yǒng dēng | see 永登縣|永登县 |
| 永新 | yǒng xīn | see 永新縣|永新县 |
| 永善proper-noun | yǒng shàn | see 永善縣|永善县 |
永 appears in 101 compound words: 86 as the first character, 4 as the last, and 10 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 永 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (7)
Yongle Encyclopaedia (the largest leishu encyclopaedia in Chinese history, later scattered and mostly lost)
Example Sentences
暴雨过后，永水上涨，淹没了低洼的街道。
bào yǔ guò hòu , yǒng shuǐ shǎng zhǎng , yān méi le dī 洼 de jiē dào .
After the downpour, the Yong River swelled, flooding the low-lying streets.
富邦金控连续10年入选标普全球永续年鉴 2026年名列全球保险业前5%
fù bāng jīn kòng lián xù 1 0 nián rù xuǎn biāo pǔ quán qiú yǒng xù nián jiàn 2 0 2 6 nián míng liè quán qiú bǎo xiǎn yè qián 5
Fubon Financial Holdings has been selected in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook for 10 consecutive years and ranks among the top 5% of the global insurance industry in 2026
彭博示警 缓冲期过后祭301永久措施
彭 bó shì jǐng huǎn chōng qī guò hòu jì 3 0 1 yǒng jiǔ cuò shī
Bloomberg warns of permanent measures to sacrifice 301 after the buffer period
台北101风水池民众提桶装 贾永婕急喊话
tái běi 1 0 1 fēng shuǐ chí mín zhòng tí tǒng zhuāng gǔ yǒng 婕 jí hǎn huà
Taipei 101 Feng Shui Pool People carry buckets Jia Yongjie shouted urgently
星星之火足以燎原!永康营业场所角落起火 乱丢菸蒂惹祸
xīng xīng zhī huǒ zú yǐ 燎 yuán ! yǒng kāng yíng yè chǎng suǒ jiǎo luò qǐ huǒ luàn diū 菸 dì rě huò
A spark is enough to set fire to the plains! A fire broke out in the corner of Yongkang's business premises, and littering cigarette butts caused trouble
女性永远只能扮演次要角色吗？
Nǚxìng yǒngyuǎn zhǐnéng bànyǎn cìyào juésè ma?
Must the woman always play the secondary role?
你相信死后永生吗？
Nǐ xiāngxìn sǐhòu yǒngshēng ma?
Do you believe in eternal life after death?
顾客永远是正确的吗？
Gùkè yǒngyuǎn shì zhèngquè de ma?
Is the customer always right?
汤姆永远也不会原谅我了，是吗？
Tāngmǔ yǒngyuǎn yě bù huì yuánliàng wǒ le, shì ma?
Tom is never going to forgive me, is he?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 永 (yǒng) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 永 have?
What is the radical of 永?
What are the components of 永?
What are common words containing 永?
What characters sound the same as 永 (yǒng)?
Is 永 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 永 with real-time feedback
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