(yóu): outstanding, particularly, especially, a fault

(yóu) is a Chinese character meaning “outstanding.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (structural). It ranks #1098 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, is a compound character. Its radical form (lame) appears in many related characters such as (jiù, (after a suppositional clause) in that case), (, (bound form) embarrassing), (gān, used in 尷尬|尴尬).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. outstanding
  2. particularly, especially
  3. a fault

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticThis character is a compound form.

Decomposition: ⿻尢丶 (layout: overlay)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
adverbyóu qíespecially4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
yóu wùrarity
yóu jīn(name) Eugene
yóu wéiespecially
yuàn tiān yóu rén(idiom) to blame the gods and accuse others
西yóu lì xī sīUlysses (novel)
yǐ jǐng xiào yóu(idiom) to warn against following bad examples
yóu kǎ tǎnYucatan (Mexican province)
yóu ěr qīn kēYurchenko (name)
yóu kè lǐ lǐukulele (loanword)
yóu qí shìespecially
yóu jiā lìeucalyptus (loanword)
yóu wén tú sīJuventus, Italian football team
·yóu lǐ sī · yī wén sīJoris Ivens (1898-1989), Dutch documentary filmmaker and committed communist
yóu zhǐespecially
yóu déSir Edward Youde (1924-1986), British diplomat, ambassador to Beijing 1974-1978, governor of Hong Kong 1982-1986
26
Total compounds
77
As first character
19
As last character
4
As middle character

appears in 26 compound words: 77 as the first character, 19 as the last, and 4 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.

0.579258,842 co-occurrences
shì
0.459169,608 co-occurrences
shàn
0.3903,054 co-occurrences
0.3883,360 co-occurrences
0.38744,688 co-occurrences
suì
0.358210 co-occurrences
0.35223,868 co-occurrences
0.3523,828 co-occurrences
0.3505,244 co-occurrences
xiǎn
0.3403,522 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

西YóulìxīsīHSK 7+

Ulysses

YóuwéntúsīHSK 7+

Juventus F.C.

yuàntiān-yóurénHSK 5+

to blame god and man; to blame everyone and everything but oneself

phrase
yǐjǐngxiàoyóuHSK 4+

in order to deter innocents who might mimic the example of the wrongdoer

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我在字典里查到了字的详细解释。

wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le yóu zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .

I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "尤" in the dictionary.

Yahoo FinanceMar 2026

高盛:中东战事对成品油市场影响

gāo shèng : zhōng dōng zhàn shì duì chéng pǐn yóu shì chǎng yǐng xiǎng yóu shèn

Goldman Sachs: The conflict in the Middle East is having a particularly significant impact on the refined oil market

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...意外 背后恐藏隐形推手 手腕、脊椎与髋部其要注意

. . . yì wài bèi hòu kǒng zàng yǐn xíng tuī shǒu shǒu wàn , jǐ chuí yǔ 髋 bù yóu qí yāo zhù yì

... Accidents There may be invisible pushers behind the wrists, spine and hips

Hk01.comFeb 2026

正月初九玉皇大帝生日8大禁忌 其别做一事否则恐“穷足一年”

zhèng yuè chū jiǔ yù huáng dà dì shēng rì 8 dà jīn jì yóu qí bié zuò yī shì fǒu zé kǒng qióng zú yī nián

On the ninth day of the first lunar month, the Jade Emperor's birthday 8 taboos especially don't do anything, otherwise you may be "poor for a year"

Investing 香港Feb 2026

费森斯医疗保健尽管业绩超预期仍下跌近7%

fèi sēn yóu sī yī liáo bǎo jiàn jǐn guǎn yè jì chāo yù qī réng xià diē jìn 7

Fresenius Healthcare fell nearly 7% despite better-than-expected results

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

邓国平:国盟权力重排,慕丁“退而不休”,哈迪“退而不离”?

dèng guó píng : guó méng quán lì chóng pái , mù yóu dīng tuì ér bù xiū , hā dí tuì ér bù lí ?

Deng Guoping: The BN power rearrangement, Muhyiddin "retreats", Hadi "retreats"?

Tatoeba

今天是你的生日,不是吗,里?

Jīntiān shì nǐ de shēngrì, bùshìma, yóu lǐ?

It's your birthday, isn't it, Yuri?

Tatoeba

其是要注意你吃的和喝的东西。

Yóuqí shì yào zhùyì nǐ chī de hé hē de dōngxi.

You have to pay special attention to what you eat and drink.

Tatoeba

其不该空腹喝酒。

Nǐ yóuqí bù gāi kōngfù hē jiǔ.

You should especially not drink on an empty stomach.

Tatoeba

我很喜欢奈良,其在秋季的时候。

Wǒ hěn xǐhuan Nàiliáng, yóuqí zài qiūjì de shíhou.

I love Nara, especially in autumn.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the lame radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced yóu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 尤 (yóu) mean in Chinese?
尤 (yóu) primarily means "outstanding." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #1098 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 尤 have?
尤 is written with 4 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 尤?
The radical associated with 尤 is 尢 (lame). This radical appears in many characters related to lame.
What are the components of 尤?
尤 is composed of: 尢 (phonetic), 丶 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿻尢丶 with a overlay layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 尤?
Common words with 尤 include: 尤其 (yóu qí, "especially"); 尤物 (yóu wù, "rarity"); 尤金 (yóu jīn, "(name) Eugene"); 尤为 (yóu wéi, "especially"); 怨天尤人 (yuàn tiān yóu rén, "(idiom) to blame the gods and accuse others"). There are over 26 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 尤 (yóu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yóu: 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 尤 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 尤 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.