游 (yóu): to walk, to tour, to roam, to travel

游 (yóu) is a Chinese character meaning “to walk.” Classified as HSK Level 2 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (structural) and 斿 (structural). It ranks #695 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 游 to swim freely 斿 through the seas 氵. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to walk
  2. to tour
  3. to roam
  4. to travel

Etymology & Origin

游

ideographicTo swim freely 斿 through the seas 氵

Decomposition: ⿰氵斿 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 游

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
游戏nounyóu xìgame3
游泳verbyóu yǒngswimming2
旅游verblǚ yóutrip2
游客nounyóu kètraveler3
导游verb/noundǎo yóutour guide4
游览verbyóu lǎnto go sightseeing5
出游verbchū yóuto go on a tour6
游玩verbyóu wánto amuse oneself4
游人nounyóu réna tourist6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
游泳池nounyóu yǒng chíswimming pool
游行verbyóu xíngto march
游艇nounyóu tǐngbarge
游荡verbyóu dàngto wander
环游verbhuán yóuto travel around (the world, a country etc)
游戏机nounyóu xì jīvideo game machine
梦游verbmèng yóuto sleepwalk
电子游戏noundiàn zǐ yóu xìcomputer and video games
周游verbzhōu yóuto travel around
游乐园nounyóu lè yuánamusement park
游手好闲phraseyóu shǒu hào xiánto idle about
游侠nounyóu xiáknight-errant
巡游verbxún yóuto cruise
游说verbyóu shuìto lobby
游乐场yóu lè chǎngplayground
103
Total compounds
52
As first character
44
As last character
4
As middle character

游 appears in 103 compound words: 52 as the first character, 44 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 游 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

戏xì
0.798206,381 co-occurrences
泳yǒng
0.67950,594 co-occurrences
旅lǚ
0.58361,811 co-occurrences
击jī
0.50323,298 co-occurrences
池chí
0.48011,428 co-occurrences
客kè
0.44220,288 co-occurrences
浮fú
0.4424,908 co-occurrences
览lǎn
0.4413,840 co-occurrences
槐huái
0.43612 co-occurrences
牧mù
0.4325,546 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (17)

到此一游dàocǐyīyóuHSK 4+

to come here for travel; (as vandalism) (someone) was here

phrase
浮游生物fúyóu shēngwùHSK 6+

plankton

noun
故地重游gùdìchóngyóuHSK 3+

to revisit a place after a long time

phrase
驾鹤西游jiàhèxīyóuHSK 7+

to pass away

phrase
旧地重游jiù dì chóng yóuHSK 3+

(idiom) to return to a place after a long time away

phrase
老残游记lǎo cán yóu jìHSK 6+

The Travels of Lao Tsan, novel by late Qing novelist Liu E 劉鶚|刘鹗

phrase
力争上游lì zhēng shàng yóuHSK 4+

to strive for mastery (idiom); aiming for the best result; to have high ambitions

phrase
漏网游鱼lòu wǎng yóu yúHSK 5+

see 漏網之魚|漏网之鱼

phrase
散兵游勇sǎnbīng yóuyǒngHSK 6+

scattered and disassociated soldiers; person who does not belong to a group

phrase
示威游行shì wēi yóu xíngHSK 5+

(protest) demonstration

phrase
优哉游哉yōuzāiyóuzāi

leisurely and carefree

phrase
游标卡尺yóubiāo kǎchǐHSK 5+

vernier caliper

noun

Showing 12 of 17 idioms containing 游.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他刚搬进新公寓,还在慢慢适应周围的环境。

Tā gāng bān jìn xīn gōngyù, hái zài mànman shìyìng zhōuwéi de huánjìng.

He just moved into a new apartment and is still slowly adapting to the surrounding environment.

百度新闻Feb 2026

“新春走基层”国外游客称赞贵州“秒通关”

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng guó wài yóu kè chèn zàn guì zhōu miǎo tōng guān

"New Year at the grassroots level" foreign tourists praise Guizhou for "customs clearance in seconds"

百度新闻Feb 2026

谁被虹口新春美到了?中外游客:超出片,太震撼!| ..

shéi bèi hóng kǒu xīn chūn měi dào le ? zhōng wài yóu kè chāo chū piān , tài zhèn hàn ! . .

Who is beautiful by Hongkou New Year? Chinese and foreign tourists: beyond the film, too shocking! | The New Year's Day

百度新闻Feb 2026

逛游乐场与家人失散,5岁女童坠入路边深井大哭...

guàng yóu lè chǎng yú jiā rén shī sàn , suì nǚ tóng zhuì rù lù biān shēn jǐng dà kū . . .

Separated from her family at a playground, a 5-year-old girl fell into a roadside well and cried...

百度新闻Feb 2026

对话滞留俄罗斯“极光村”的中国游客:路两边的冰雪堆..

duì huà zhì liú é luó sī jí guāng cūn de zhōng guó yóu kè lù liǎng biān de bīng xuě duī . .

Dialogue with Chinese tourists stranded in Russia's "Aurora Village": Ice and snow piles on both sides of the road...

百度新闻Feb 2026

春节假期首日北京市属公园接待游客20.95万人次,..

chūn jié jiǎ qī shǒu rì běi jīng shì shǔ gōng yuán jiē dāi yóu kè . mò rén cì , . .

On the first day of the Spring Festival holiday, Beijing's parks received 209,500 visitors,...

Tatoeba

你什么时候旅游回来的啊?

Nǐ shénmeshíhou lǚyóu huílai de ā?

When did you get back from your trip?

Tatoeba

这间游泳学校每个月的学费是多少?

Zhè jiān yóuyǒng xuéxiào měi gè yuè de xuéfèi shì duōshao?

How much is the monthly fee of this swimming school?

Tatoeba

在那边游泳的男孩是谁?

Zài nàbian yóuyǒng de nánhái shì shéi?

Who's the boy that's swimming over there?

Tatoeba

你怎么样?旅游愉快吗?

Nǐ zěnmeyàng? lǚyóu yúkuài ma?

How are you? Did you have a good trip?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yóu

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 游 (yóu) mean in Chinese?
游 (yóu) primarily means "to walk." It is classified as HSK Level 2, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #695 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 游 have?
游 is written with 12 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 游?
The radical associated with 游 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 游?
游 is composed of: 氵 (structural), 斿 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵斿 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 游?
Common words with 游 include: 游戏 (yóu xì, "game"); 游泳 (yóu yǒng, "swimming"); 游泳池 (yóu yǒng chí, "swimming pool"); 游行 (yóu xíng, "to march"); 旅游 (lǚ yóu, "trip"). There are over 103 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 游 (yóu)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yóu: 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 游 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 游 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 游 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.