淤 (yū): silt
淤 (yū) is a Chinese character meaning “silt.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 於 (phonetic). It ranks #3063 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 淤 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 河 (hé, river), 海 (hǎi, sea), 洋 (yáng, ocean).
Definitions
- silt
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 淤泥noun | yū ní | silt |
| 淤血noun | yū xuè | variant of 瘀血 |
| 淤积verb | yū jī | to silt up |
| 出淤泥而不染phrase | chū yū ní ér bù rǎn | lit. to grow out of the mud unsullied (idiom) |
| 清淤verb | qīng yū | to dredge |
| 淤伤 | yū shāng | bruising |
| 淤青noun | yū qīng | bruise |
| 淤血斑 | yū xuè bān | bruise |
| 淤塞verb | yū sè | choked with silt |
| 淤浅 | yū qiǎn | to silt up |
| 淤灌 | yū guàn | to warp (fertilize land by flooding) |
| 淤滞 | yū zhì | silted up |
| 祛淤 | qū yū | variant of 祛瘀 |
淤 appears in 13 compound words: 77 as the first character, 15 as the last, and 8 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 淤 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
孩子们喜欢在清澈的淤边玩耍，捉小鱼小虾。
hái zǐ men xǐ huān zài qīng chè de yū biān wán shuǎ , zhuō xiǎo yú xiǎo xiā .
Children love to play along the clear banks, catching small fish and shrimp.
洪涝过后，淤泥、垃圾堆积，环境潮湿，极易滋生细菌、病毒、真菌等致病菌。
hóng lào guò hòu , yū ní , lā jī duī jī , huán jìng cháo shī , jí yì zī shēng xì jūn , bìng dú , zhēn jūn děng zhì bìng jūn .
After flooding, silt and debris accumulate, and the damp environment creates ideal conditions for the growth of pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
第二天，崴脚处会有大范围的淤青。
dì èr tiān , 崴 jiǎo chǔ huì yǒu dà fàn wéi de yū qīng .
The next day, there will be extensive bruising around the sprained ankle.
不细看以为是光复?!网友PO寿丰溪河床淤积照 忧重蹈堰塞湖覆辙
bù xì kàn yǐ wéi shì guāng fù ? ! wǎng yǒu P O shòu fēng xī hé chuáng yū jī zhào yōu chóng dǎo 堰 sāi hú fù zhé
At first glance, you might think it’s Guangfu?! Netizen posts photos of silt buildup in the Shoufeng River, fearing a repeat of the landslide dam disaster
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 淤 (yū) mean in Chinese?
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Is 淤 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 淤 with real-time feedback
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