右 (yòu): (bound form) right, right-hand side, (bound form) (politics) right of center, (bound form) (old) west

右 (yòu) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) right.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (structural). It ranks #783 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) right
  2. right-hand side
  3. (bound form) (politics) right of center
  4. (bound form) (old) west

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 右

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
左右noun/verbzuǒ yòuleft and right4
右边nounyòu bianright side2

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
右手nounyòu shǒuright hand
右侧nounyòu cèright side
座右铭nounzuò yòu míngmotto
右翼nounyòu yìthe right flank
右面nounyòu miànright side
左右手nounzuǒ yòu shǒuleft and right hands
左右为难phrasezuǒ yòu wéi nán(idiom) between a rock and a hard place
右方nounyòu fāngright-hand side
左膀右臂nounzuǒ bǎng yòu bì(idiom) trusted assistant
左右开弓zuǒ yòu kāi gōnglit. to shoot from both sides (idiom)
左顾右盼phrasezuǒ gù yòu pànglancing to left and right (idiom)
左右逢源phrasezuǒ yòu féng yuánlit. to strike water right and left (idiom)
右倾verbyòu qīngright-wing
左邻右舍phrasezuǒ lín yòu shèneighbors
右派nounyòu pài(political) right
72
Total compounds
36
As first character
11
As last character
53
As middle character

右 appears in 72 compound words: 36 as the first character, 11 as the last, and 53 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 右 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

左zuǒ
0.782146,758 co-occurrences
翼yì
0.58221,672 co-occurrences
趟tàng
0.5403,122 co-occurrences
侍shì
0.53012,688 co-occurrences
御yù
0.50212,564 co-occurrences
侧cè
0.47211,653 co-occurrences
郎láng
0.46713,286 co-occurrences
仆pú
0.4591,760 co-occurrences
岸àn
0.4429,512 co-occurrences
臂bì
0.4363,641 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (13)

反右运动Fǎnyòu YùndòngHSK 4+

Anti-Rightist Campaign

无出其右wúchūqíyòuHSK 4+

second to none; matchless; unequaled

phrase
左顾右盼zuǒgùyòupànHSK 6+

to look around anxiously or smugly

phrase
左邻右里zuǒlínyòulǐHSK 3+

neighbours

phrase
左邻右舍zuǒlínyòushèHSK 5+

neighbors

phrase
左思右想zuǒsīyòuxiǎngHSK 2+

to deliberate, to think over

verb
左拥右抱zuǒ yōng yòu bàoHSK 5+

(idiom) to have a girl on each arm

phrase
左右两难zuǒ yòu liǎng nánHSK 3+

(idiom) between a rock and a hard place; in a dilemma

phrase
左右为难zuǒyòuwéinánHSK 3+

to be between a rock and a hard place

phrase
左支右绌zuǒzhīyòuchùHSK 4+

to be lacking in resources to deal with every problem at once

phrase

Showing 10 of 13 idioms containing 右.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这道菜是用鸡肉和蘑菇一起炒制的,味道很鲜美。

Zhè dào cài shì yòng jīròu hé mógū yīqǐ chǎozhì de, wèidao hěn xiānměi.

This dish is stir-fried with chicken and mushrooms together, and the taste is very delicious.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

每日星座运势/巨蟹今日桃花绕左右 选择机会颇多

měi rì xīng zuò yùn shì jù xiè jīn rì táo huā rào zuǒ yòu xuǎn zé jī huì pō duō

Daily horoscope/Cancer today peach blossoms around There are many opportunities to choose

99 健康网Feb 2026

男生小便完甩一下动作标准吗?向前轻弹比左右晃更有效吗

nán shēng xiǎo biàn wán shuǎi yī xià dòng zuò biāo zhǔn ma ? xiàng qián qīng dàn bǐ zuǒ yòu huǎng gēng yǒu xiào ma

Is it standard for boys to pee and shake off? Is it more effective to flick forward than to swing left and right?

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

1令吉爆竹爆炸导致右眼失明 7年过去少年仍感觉历历在目

1 lìng jí bào zhú bào zhà dǎo zhì yòu yǎn shī míng 7 nián guò qù shǎo nián réng gǎn jué lì lì zài mù

RM1 firecracker explosion caused blindness in right eye Seven years later, the teenager still feels vividly in his mind

東方日報Feb 2026

佘诗曼过年左拥右抱 将“小鲜肉”抱入怀中啜爆

佘 shī 曼 guò nián zuǒ yōng yòu bào jiāng xiǎo xiān ròu bào rù huái zhōng 啜 bào

Charmaine Sheh hugged left and right during the Chinese New Year, hugged the "little fresh meat" into her arms and slurped it

百度新闻Feb 2026

万全右卫城十二时辰:赚时辰印,当“荣誉居民”

mò quán yòu wèi chéng shí èr shí chén zhuàn shí chén yìn , dāng róng yù jū mín

The Twelve Hours of Manjuemae Castle: Earn your hourly seal and become an honorary resident.

Tatoeba

我七点左右来就可以了吧?

Wǒ qī diǎn zuǒyòu lái jiù kěyǐ le ba?

Would it suffice if I came around 7?

Tatoeba

能麻烦您等一个小时左右吗?

Néng máfan nín děng yī gè xiǎoshí zuǒyòu ma?

Can you wait about an hour?

Tatoeba

“明”这个汉字左边是什么?右边是什么?

"míng " zhège hànzì zuǒbian shì shénme? yòubian shì shénme?

In "明", what is the character on the left? And the one on the right?

Tatoeba

自行车从右侧超过汽车是不合法的。

Zìxíngchē cóng yòu cè chāoguò qìchē shì bù héfǎ de.

It is illegal for bicycles to pass on the right of cars.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yòu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 右 (yòu) mean in Chinese?
右 (yòu) primarily means "(bound form) right." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #783 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 右 and 东?
右 (yòu) and 东 (dōng) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 右 (west) vs 东 (east).
How many strokes does 右 have?
右 is written with 5 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 右?
The radical associated with 右 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 右?
右 is composed of: 口 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 右?
Common words with 右 include: 左右 (zuǒ yòu, "left and right"); 右边 (yòu bian, "right side"); 右手 (yòu shǒu, "right hand"); 右侧 (yòu cè, "right side"); 座右铭 (zuò yòu míng, "motto"). There are over 72 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 右 (yòu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yòu: 有 (to have), 又 ((once) again), 由 (to follow), 友 (friend), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 右 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 右 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 右 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.