俑 (yǒng): wooden figures buried with the dead

俑 (yǒng) is a Chinese character meaning “wooden figures buried with the dead.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亻 (semantic) and 甬 (phonetic). It ranks #3506 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 俑 person. Its radical form 亻 (person) appears in many related characters such as 人 (rén, person), 你 (nǐ, you), 他 (tā, he).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. wooden figures buried with the dead

Etymology & Origin

俑

pictophoneticperson

Decomposition: ⿰亻甬 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Practice writing 俑 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
始作俑者phraseshǐ zuò yǒng zhě(lit.) the first person to make funerary figurines (idiom)
兵马俑nounbīng mǎ yǒngfigurines of warriors and horses buried with the dead
陶俑nountáo yǒnga pottery figurine buried with the dead
俑坑yǒng kēngpit with funerary figures
4
Total compounds
25
As first character
50
As last character
25
As middle character

俑 appears in 4 compound words: 25 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 25 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

始作俑者shǐzuòyǒngzhě

the initiator of a bad practice; the creator of a bad precedent; the person who started a bad or undesirable event

phrase

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

秦兵马俑二号坑展厅完成展陈提升

qín bīng mǎ yǒng èr hào kēng zhǎn tīng wán chéng zhǎn chén tí shēng

Exhibition Upgrade Completed at the Pit No. 2 Exhibition Hall of the Terracotta Army

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

庆州出土的唐式官服陶俑、彩色釉陶三足炉等文物,是这种文化交流的生动见证。

qìng zhōu chū tǔ de táng shì guān fú táo yǒng , cǎi sè yòu táo sān zú lú děng wén wù , shì zhè zhǒng wén huà jiāo liú de shēng dòng jiàn zhèng .

Artifacts unearthed in Gyeongju—such as Tang-style official attire terracotta figurines and three-legged incense burners with colored glaze—serve as vivid testimony to this cultural exchange.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

墓葬中出土了16件三彩器,包括镇墓兽、天王俑、女俑、男俑、骆驼、马、塔式罐、灯台等。

mù zàng zhōng chū tǔ le 1 6 jiàn sān cǎi qì , bāo kuò zhèn mù shòu , tiān wáng yǒng , nǚ yǒng , nán yǒng , luò tuó , mǎ , tǎ shì guàn , dēng tái děng .

Sixteen sancai vessels were unearthed from the tomb, including tomb-guarding beasts, figurines of the Four Heavenly Kings, female figurines, male figurines, camels, horses, pagoda-shaped jars, and lampstands.

奇客SolidotSep 2026

他认为,冰川快速融化是全球暖化与气候变迁的后果,但气候变迁的始作俑者并不是尼泊尔。

tā rèn wéi , bīng chuān kuài sù róng huà shì quán qiú nuǎn huà yǔ qì hòu biàn qiān de hòu guǒ , dàn qì hòu biàn qiān de shǐ zuò yǒng zhě bìng bù shì ní bó ěr .

He believes that the rapid melting of glaciers is a consequence of global warming and climate change, but Nepal is not the cause of climate change.

少数派Aug 2026

戏谑的情节激发听者的反思,曲目里有你有我,是受害者还是始作俑者?

xì 谑 de qíng jié jī fā tīng zhě de fǎn sī , qū mù lǐ yǒu nǐ yǒu wǒ , shì shòu hài zhě hái shì shǐ zuò yǒng zhě ?

The tongue-in-cheek storyline prompts listeners to reflect: in this song, there’s you and me—are we the victims or the instigators?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 亻 (person) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced yǒng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 俑 (yǒng) mean in Chinese?
俑 (yǒng) primarily means "wooden figures buried with the dead." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3506 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 俑 and 在?
俑 (yǒng) and 在 (zài) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 俑 (dead) vs 在 (alive).
How many strokes does 俑 have?
俑 is written with 9 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 俑?
The radical associated with 俑 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are the components of 俑?
俑 is composed of: 亻 (semantic), 甬 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻甬 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 俑?
Common words with 俑 include: 始作俑者 (shǐ zuò yǒng zhě, "(lit.) the first person to make funerary figurines (idiom)"); 兵马俑 (bīng mǎ yǒng, "figurines of warriors and horses buried with the dead"); 陶俑 (táo yǒng, "a pottery figurine buried with the dead"); 俑坑 (yǒng kēng, "pit with funerary figures"). There are over 4 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 俑 (yǒng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yǒng: 勇 (brave), 涌 (to bubble up), 恿 (used in 慫恿|怂恿), 踊 (leap). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 俑 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 俑 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 俑 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.