宇 (yǔ): room, universe
宇 (yǔ) is a Chinese character meaning “room.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 宀 (semantic) and 于 (phonetic). It ranks #1154 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 宇 building. Its radical form 宀 (roof) appears in many related characters such as 客 (kè, guest, customer), 家 (jiā, home, family), 它 (tā, it).
Definitions
- room
- universe
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 宇 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 宇宙noun | yǔ zhòu | universe |
| 宇航员noun | yǔ háng yuán | astronaut |
| 宇宙飞船noun | yǔ zhòu fēi chuán | spaceship |
| 宇航局 | yǔ háng jú | space agency |
| 宇航verb | yǔ háng | space flight |
| 庙宇noun | miào yǔ | temple |
| 宇航服noun | yǔ háng fú | spacesuit |
| 大宇 | dà yǔ | Daewoo (Korean conglomerate) |
| 吴镇宇 | wú zhèn yǔ | Francis Ng Chun-Yu (1961-), Hong Kong actor |
| 宇宙射线noun | yǔ zhòu shè xiàn | cosmic ray |
| 李宇春 | lǐ yǔ chūn | Li Yuchun aka Chris Lee (1984-), Chinese pop singer |
| 殿宇noun | diàn yǔ | (literary) halls (of a palace or a temple) |
| 寰宇noun | huán yǔ | the whole earth |
| 靖宇proper-noun | jìng yǔ | see 靖宇縣|靖宇县 |
| 楼宇noun | lóu yǔ | building |
宇 appears in 40 compound words: 35 as the first character, 40 as the last, and 25 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 宇 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (7)
Example Sentences
宇字在日常生活中使用频率较低。
yǔ zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .
The character "宇" is used less frequently in daily life.
默茨访华|率团参观机械人企业 宇树科技王兴兴:共推产业发展
mò 茨 fǎng huá lǜ tuán cān guàn jī xiè rén qǐ yè yǔ shù kē jì wáng xīng xīng : gòng tuī chǎn yè fā zhǎn
Mertz visited China|Led a delegation to visit the robot company Wang Xingxing of Yushu Technology: jointly promote industrial development
默茨转抵杭州参访宇树科技 王兴兴:深感荣幸
mò 茨 zhuǎn dǐ háng zhōu cān fǎng yǔ shù kē jì wáng xīng xīng : shēn gǎn róng xìng
Mertz arrived in Hangzhou to visit Yushu Technology Wang Xingxing: I am deeply honored
宇树发布四足机器人Unitree As2
yǔ shù fā bù sì zú jī qì rén U n i t r e e A s 2
Unitree released the quadruped robot Unitree As2
默茨明起访华两日 期间将参观宇树科技、西门子、平治等企业
mò 茨 míng qǐ fǎng huá liǎng rì qī jiān jiāng cān guàn yǔ shù kē jì , xī mén zǐ , píng zhì děng qǐ yè
During Mertzming's two-day visit to China, he will visit Unitree Technology, Siemens, Mercedes-Benz and other companies
小米张宇:REDMI Turbo 5 Max 手...
xiǎo mǐ zhāng yǔ : R E D M I T u r b o 5 M a x shǒu . . .
Xiaomi Zhang Yu: REDMI Turbo 5 Max Mobile...
宇宙是怎样形成的？
Yǔzhòu shì zěnyàng xíngchéng de?
How was the universe formed?
您知道这座庙宇供奉的是哪个神吗？
Nín zhīdào zhè zuò miàoyǔ gòngfèng de shì nǎge shén ma?
Do you know which deity this temple is dedicated to?
宇宙里有多少个星系呀？
Yǔzhòu lǐ yǒu duōshao gè xīngxì ya?
How many galaxies are there in the universe?
宇宙毫无疑问是无限的。
Yǔzhòu háowúyíwèn shì wúxiàn de.
There's no doubt: the universe is infinite.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 宀 (building) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 宇 (yǔ) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 宇 and 吁?
How many strokes does 宇 have?
What is the radical of 宇?
What are the components of 宇?
What are common words containing 宇?
What characters sound the same as 宇 (yǔ)?
Is 宇 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 宇 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.