(yòu): (bound form) to bless, to protect

(yòu) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) to bless.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2616 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, person. Its radical form (person) appears in many related characters such as (rén, person), (shén, what), (jīn, now).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) to bless
  2. to protect

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticperson

Decomposition: ⿰亻右 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
bǎo yòuto bless and protect
bì yòuto bless
hù yòuto bless and protect
yòu hùblessing
zhān tiān yòuZhan Tianyou (1861-1919), Chinese railroad engineer
lín yòuvariant of 鄰右|邻右[lin2 you4]
6
Total compounds
17
As first character
83
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 6 compound words: 17 as the first character, 83 as the last, and 0 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.5383,270 co-occurrences
qiān
0.413606 co-occurrences
tiān
0.41316,254 co-occurrences
téng
0.4123,339 co-occurrences
0.405948 co-occurrences
bǎo
0.3949,265 co-occurrences
cāng
0.386312 co-occurrences
tíng
0.3802,280 co-occurrences
0.374978 co-occurrences
guō
0.3711,347 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这位老虽然年过八旬,但身体依然硬朗。

zhè wèi lǎo yòu suī rán nián guò bā xún , dàn shēn tī yī rán yìng lǎng .

Though over eighty years old, this venerable elder remains in robust health.

BastillepostMar 2026

...全面进化 黄靖程携手Jeremy强尼冯志与观众再次直面人生遗憾

. . . quán miàn jìn huà huáng 靖 chéng xié shǒu J e r e m y qiáng ní píng zhì yòu yǔ guàn zhòng zài cì zhí miàn rén shēng yí hàn

...A Complete Transformation: Huang Jingcheng Joins Forces with Jeremy, Johnny, and Feng Zhiyou to Confront Life’s Regrets Once Again with the Audience

StheadlineMar 2026

石修新抱林蔚挑战视觉极限 高衩泳裤“绝对领域”尽现...

shí xiū xīn bào lín yòu yù tiāo zhàn shì jué jí xiàn gāo 衩 yǒng kù jué duì lǐng yù jǐn xiàn . . .

Shi Xiuxin and Lin Youwei Push the Limits of Visual Sensation; High-Cut Swim Trunks Reveal the "Absolute Territory"...

Hk01.comFeb 2026

向华强遗产全交郭碧婷管理 向不满遭放逐:经秘书来跟我联络

xiàng huá qiáng yí chǎn quán jiāo guō bì 婷 guǎn lǐ xiàng yòu bù mǎn zāo fàng zhú : jīng mì shū lái gēn wǒ lián lào

Xiang Huaqiang's estate was fully handed over to Guo Biting for management Xiang You was dissatisfied with being exiled: contact me through the secretary

Investing 香港Feb 2026

驾创新(02431)与地上铁、壁虎科技达...

yòu jià chuàng xīn ( 0 2 4 3 1 ) yǔ dì shàng tiě , bì hǔ kē jì dá . . .

Youjia Innovation (02431) and the overground railway, Gecko Technology Da...

EttodayFeb 2026

台湾实力提升!周东京盛赞投手群 近藤健介:首战很重要

tái wān shí lì tí shēng ! zhōu dōng yòu jīng shèng zàn tóu shǒu qún jìn téng jiàn jiè : shǒu zhàn hěn chóng yāo

Taiwan's strength has improved! Zhou Dongyujing praised the pitching staff Kensuke Kondo: The first game is very important

Tatoeba

上天保,一切都会好起来。

Shàngtiān bǎoyòu, yīqiè dōu huì hǎoqǐlai.

God willing, everything will be all right.

Tatoeba

上帝保巴勒斯坦。

Shàngdì bǎoyòu Bālèsītǎn.

God bless Palestine.

Tatoeba

愿上帝保你的孩子。

Yuàn Shàngdì bǎoyòu nǐ de háizi.

May God protect your children.

Tatoeba

感谢你们。上帝保你们。愿上帝保美利坚合众国

Gǎnxiè nǐmen. Shàngdì bǎoyòu nǐmen. yuàn Shàngdì bǎoyòu Měilìjiān Hézhòngguó

Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yòu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 佑 (yòu) mean in Chinese?
佑 (yòu) primarily means "(bound form) to bless." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2616 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 佑 have?
佑 is written with 7 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 佑?
The radical associated with 佑 is 亻 (person). This radical appears in many characters related to person.
What are the components of 佑?
佑 is composed of: 亻 (semantic), 右 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰亻右 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 佑?
Common words with 佑 include: 保佑 (bǎo yòu, "to bless and protect"); 庇佑 (bì yòu, "to bless"); 护佑 (hù yòu, "to bless and protect"); 佑护 (yòu hù, "blessing"); 詹天佑 (zhān tiān yòu, "Zhan Tianyou (1861-1919), Chinese railroad engineer"). There are over 6 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 佑 (yòu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yòu: 优 (excellent), 由 (to follow), 邮 (post (office)), 油 (oil), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 佑 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 佑 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.