(): to describe sth as, an analogy, a simile

() is a Chinese character meaning “to describe sth as.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2217 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, mouth. Its radical form (mouth) appears in many related characters such as (kǒu, mouth), (jiào, to call, to be called), (yòu, (bound form) right).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to describe sth as
  2. an analogy
  3. a simile

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticmouth

Decomposition: ⿰口俞 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

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

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
verb/nounbǐ yùto compare5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
bù kě lǐ yù(idiom) impervious to reason
yǐn yùmetaphor
jiā yù hù xiǎounderstood by everyone (idiom)
àn yùmetaphor
bù yán ér yùit goes without saying
míng yùsimile
bù kě yán yùinexpressible (idiom)
yù shì míng yánanother name for 古今小說|古今小说[Gu3 jin1 Xiao3 shuo1], Stories Old and New by Feng Menglong 馮夢龍|冯梦龙[Feng2 Meng4 long2]
tí yù fǎsynecdoche
bǐ yù yìfigurative meaning (of a word)
jiè gǔ yù jīnto borrow the past as a model for the present
zì yùto refer to oneself as
lǐ yùto reason with sb
yán yùto describe
fēng yùsee 諷喻|讽喻[feng3 yu4]
23
Total compounds
4
As first character
78
As last character
17
As middle character

appears in 23 compound words: 4 as the first character, 78 as the last, and 17 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.

0.6413,390 co-occurrences
yǐn
0.5604,626 co-occurrences
xiǎo
0.5072,610 co-occurrences
0.49622,854 co-occurrences
jūn
0.455582 co-occurrences
zhào
0.4301,338 co-occurrences
àn
0.4282,628 co-occurrences
0.4152,520 co-occurrences
fěng
0.408312 co-occurrences
zǎo
0.402498 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

bùkělǐyùHSK 5+

to defy reason; to be unreasonable because of stupidity or stubbornness

phrase
bùkěyányùHSK 5+

to be unable to be put into words

phrase
bùyán'éryùHSK 5+

to go without saying; to be self-evident

phrase
jiāyùhùxiǎoHSK 7+

known to every household; ubiquitously known; widespread; extremely well-known

phrase
jiègǔyùjīnHSK 5+

to allude to present events or figures by referencing historical events or figures

phrase
yù shì míng yánHSK 5+

another name for 古今小說|古今小说[Gu3 jin1 Xiao3 shuo1], Stories Old and New by Feng Menglong 馮夢龍|冯梦龙[Feng2 Meng4 long2]

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

下这杯茶,解解渴再继续工作。

qǐng yù xià zhè bēi chá , xiè xiè kě zài jì xù gōng zuò .

Please pour yourself a cup of tea to quench your thirst before continuing your work.

UdnnewsindexApr 2026

奉天宫头香得主捧交趾陶还愿 隐5月婚事马到成功

fèng tiān gōng tóu xiāng dé zhǔ pěng jiāo zhǐ táo hái yuàn yǐn yù 5 yuè hūn shì mǎ dào chéng gōng

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...宪出线宜兰县长蓝白怎么合?陈琬惠经典赛妙:不影响晋级决心

. . . xiàn chū xiàn yí lán xiàn cháng lán bái zěn má gě ? chén 琬 huì jīng diǎn sài miào yù : bù yǐng xiǎng jìn jí jué xīn

... How to match the blue and white of Yilan County? Chen Wanhui's classic metaphor: does not affect the determination to advance

中国军网Feb 2026

习近平的两会之丨城市管理应该像绣花一样精细

xí jìn píng de liǎng huì zhī yù 丨 chéng shì guǎn lǐ yīng gāi xiàng xiù huā yī yàng jīng xì

Xi Jinping's metaphor for the two sessions丨Urban management should be as fine as embroidery

Tatoeba

她的悲伤无法言

Tā de bēishāng wúfǎ yányù.

No words can express her deep sorrow.

Tatoeba

莎士比亚把世界比成一个舞台。

Shāshìbǐyà bǎ shìjiè bǐyù chéng yī gè wǔtái.

Shakespeare compared the world to a stage.

Tatoeba

在中国,人们常把有能力的人为“千里马”。

Zài Zhōngguó, rénmen cháng bǎ yǒunénglì de rén yù wèi "qiānlǐmǎ ".

In China, talented people are often described as "ten thousand mile horses".

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 喻 (yù) mean in Chinese?
喻 (yù) primarily means "to describe sth as." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2217 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 喻 and 输?
喻 (yù) and 输 (shū) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 口 vs 车 (same 俞 component).
How many strokes does 喻 have?
喻 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 喻?
The radical associated with 喻 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 喻?
喻 is composed of: 口 (semantic), 俞 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰口俞 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 喻?
Common words with 喻 include: 比喻 (bǐ yù, "to compare"); 不可理喻 (bù kě lǐ yù, "(idiom) impervious to reason"); 隐喻 (yǐn yù, "metaphor"); 家喻户晓 (jiā yù hù xiǎo, "understood by everyone (idiom)"); 暗喻 (àn yù, "metaphor"). There are over 23 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 喻 (yù)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yù: 愈 (the more...(the more...)), 于 ((of time or place) in), 余 ((literary) I), 鱼 (fish), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 喻 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 喻 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.