(yǒu): to have

(yǒu) is a Chinese character meaning “to have.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic). It ranks #8 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, is a compound character. Its radical form (moon) appears in many related characters such as (yuè, moon, month), (péng, friend), (, clothes, serve).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to have

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticThis character is a compound form.

Components:phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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
méi yǒuhaven't1
adjective/verb/nounsuǒ yǒuall4
pronoun/adverbyǒu xiēsome1
conjunctionzhǐ yǒuonly have ...3
adjectiveyǒu qùinteresting4
verbyōng yǒuto have5
verb/prepositionyǒu guānto have sth to do with3
yǒu yì siinteresting2
yǒu shí housometimes2
yǒu yī diǎn ra bit1
pronounyǒu de(there are) some (who are...)1
verbyǒu xiàoeffective4
verbyǒu zheto have4
verbjù yǒuto have5
adjective/verbfù yǒurich5
adjectiveyǒu yònguseful3
adjectiveyǒu lìadvantageous5
yǒu míngfamous3
adjectiveyǒu lìpowerful5
verbchí yǒuto hold (passport, views etc)6
adjectiveyǒu xiànlimited5
verbzhàn yǒuto have6
verbhán yǒuto contain5
verbyǒu zhù yúto contribute to5
adjectiveyǒu yìuseful5
adjectiveyǒu jīorganic6
verb/adjectivexiàn yǒucurrently existing4
yǒu hàidestructive5
adjectivetè yǒuspecific (to)5
yuán yǒuoriginal5
adjectiveyǒu xùregular6
verb/adjectiveyǒu jìnvigorous6
100
Total compounds
47
As first character
53
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 47 as the first character, 53 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.

méi
0.655999,652 co-occurrences
xiàn
0.601965,142 co-occurrences
yōng
0.588379,389 co-occurrences
0.571825,138 co-occurrences
suǒ
0.5541,893,877 co-occurrences
zhī
0.542781,746 co-occurrences
gòng
0.489865,470 co-occurrences
hái
0.485388,722 co-occurrences
0.485275,154 co-occurrences
xiào
0.478251,960 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (104)

āotūyǒuzhìHSK 7+

having a full figure; shapely; curvaceous; voluptuous

adjective
bǎnquán suǒyǒuHSK 5+

all rights reserved

phrase
biéyǒudòngtiānHSK 5+

being of or showing another level of scenery; (of a place) to be amazingly beautiful and unique

phrase
bīnbīnyǒulǐHSK 7+

to be refined and courteous

phrase
chuòchuòyǒuyúHSK 7+

more than sufficient; ample

phrase
cuòluòyǒuzhìHSK 5+

irregularly arranged but charming

phrase
dàyǒurénzàiHSK 1+

plenty of such people exist

phrase
dàyǒuwénzhāngHSK 4+

there's something behind all this; there's more to it than meets the eye

phrase
fù fù yǒu yúHSK 5+

richly provided for; having enough and to spare

phrase
géqiángyǒu'ěrHSK 5+

walls have ears

phrase
gèyǒuqiānqiūHSK 4+

each has its advantages

phrase
gèyǒusuǒhàoHSK 4+

there's no accounting for taste; to each his own; different strokes for different folks; chacun à son goût

phrase

Showing 12 of 104 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

公司很多培训机会,员工可以自由选择参加。

Gōngsī yǒu hěn duō péixùn jīhuì, yuángōng kěyǐ zìyóu xuǎnzé cānjiā.

The company has many training opportunities; employees can freely choose to participate.

百度新闻Feb 2026

视频丨空间站的年夜饭都什么?听航天员报菜名收祝福

shì pín 丨 kōng jiān zhàn de nián yè fàn dū yǒu shén má ? yǐn háng tiān yuán bào cài míng shōu zhù fú

Video 丨What is the New Year's Eve dinner on the space station? I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to make it. I'm going to be able to make it.

百度新闻Feb 2026

...000倍 日本石川县一处地下水检出高浓度..

. . . bèi rì běn shí chuān xiàn yī chǔ dì xià shuǐ jiǎn chū gāo nóng dù yǒu . .

... .000 times Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture has detected a high concentration of groundwater with...

百度新闻Feb 2026

注意!静安“马上礼”第五轮即将开抢,春日焕新消费..

zhù yì ! jìng ān mǎ shǎng yǒu lǐ dì wǔ lún jí jiāng kāi qiāng , chūn rì huàn xīn xiāo fèi . .

Attention! Jing'an's "Instant Rewards" Fifth Round is About to Launch—Spring Refresh Consumption...

百度新闻Feb 2026

日本一处地下水机氟化合物超标约2000倍

rì běn yī chǔ dì xià shuǐ yǒu jī 氟 huā gě wù chāo biāo yāo bèi

Organic fluorine compounds in groundwater at a location in Japan exceed standards by approximately 2,000 times.

百度新闻Feb 2026

春运机票大跳水,人一家四口提前买票亏了4000元..

chūn yùn jī piào dà tiào shuǐ , yǒu rén yī jiā sì kǒu tí qián mǎi piào kuī le yuán . .

Spring Festival travel season airfares take a nosedive, with one family of four losing 4,000 yuan after buying tickets early...

Tatoeba

这么做什么好处吗?

Zhème zuò yǒu shénme hǎochu ma?

Does doing things in this way have a benefit?

Tatoeba

你今早吃早餐?

Nǐ jīn zǎo yǒuméiyǒu chī zǎocān?

Did you have breakfast this morning?

Tatoeba

你是不是两台电脑?

Nǐ shìbùshì yǒu liǎng tái diànnǎo?

Do you have two computers?

Tatoeba

你还别的问题吗?

Nǐ háiyǒu biéde wèntí ma?

Do you have any further questions?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yǒu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 有 (yǒu) mean in Chinese?
有 (yǒu) primarily means "to have." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #8 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 有 and 钥?
有 (yǒu) and 钥 (yuè) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 月 vs 钅 (same 月 component).
How many strokes does 有 have?
有 is written with 6 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 有?
The radical associated with 有 is 月 (moon). This radical appears in many characters related to moon.
What are the components of 有?
有 is composed of: 月 (phonetic). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 有?
Common words with 有 include: 没有 (méi yǒu, "haven't"); 还有 (hái yǒu, "there still remain(s)"); 所有 (suǒ yǒu, "all"); 有些 (yǒu xiē, "some"); 只有 (zhǐ yǒu, "only have ..."). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 有 (yǒu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yǒu: 优 (excellent), 幽 (remote), 由 (to follow), 邮 (post (office)), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 有 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 有 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.