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).

Native pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 氵 water11 strokesFrequency #3063氵 semantic 於 phonetic

Definitions

silt

Etymology & Origin

淤

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵於 (layout: left-right)

Components:氵semantic 於phonetic

Stroke Order

Practice writing 淤 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
淤泥	yū ní	silt
淤血	yū xuè	variant of 瘀血[yu1 xue4]
淤积	yū jī	to silt up
出淤泥而不染	chū yū ní ér bù rǎn	lit. to grow out of the mud unsullied (idiom)
清淤	qīng yū	to dredge
淤伤	yū shāng	bruising
淤青	yū qīng	bruise
淤血斑	yū xuè bān	bruise
淤塞	yū sè	choked with silt
淤浅	yū qiǎn	to silt up
祛淤	qū yū	variant of 祛瘀[qu1 yu1]
淤灌	yū guàn	to warp (fertilize land by flooding)
淤滞	yū zhì	silted up

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

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.

泥ní

0.6537,440 co-occurrences

积jī

0.4903,486 co-occurrences

塞sāi

0.4743,006 co-occurrences

沙shā

0.4482,676 co-occurrences

河hé

0.4182,844 co-occurrences

粘nián

0.417186 co-occurrences

滩tān

0.414282 co-occurrences

汁zhī

0.410198 co-occurrences

涨zhǎng

0.407132 co-occurrences

砂shā

0.402318 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

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.

NewtalkApr 2026

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

LtnMar 2026

日月潭九蛙清淤出土! 深埋底层“蛙王”重见天日

rì yuè tán jiǔ wā qīng yū chū tǔ ! shēn mái de céng wā wáng chóng jiàn tiān rì

Sun Moon Lake’s Nine Frogs Unearthed During Dredging! The “Frog King,” Long Buried at the Bottom, Sees the Light of Day Again

Character Family

氵 Radical Family — Characters sharing the water radical

澳ào 滨bīn 濒bīn 波bō 沧cāng 测cè 潮cháo 澈chè 澄chéng 池chí

Related Characters

河hé 海hǎi 洋yáng 江jiāng 湖hú 溪xī 流liú 池chí 汤tāng 汁zhī

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 淤 (yū) mean in Chinese?

淤 (yū) primarily means "silt." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #3063 in character frequency.

How many strokes does 淤 have?

淤 is written with 11 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 淤?

The radical associated with 淤 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.

What are the components of 淤?

淤 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 於 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵於 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 淤?

Common words with 淤 include: 淤泥 (yū ní, "silt"); 淤血 (yū xuè, "variant of 瘀血[yu1 xue4]"); 淤积 (yū jī, "to silt up"); 出淤泥而不染 (chū yū ní ér bù rǎn, "lit. to grow out of the mud unsullied (idiom)"); 清淤 (qīng yū, "to dredge"). There are over 13 compound words containing this character.

Is 淤 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 淤 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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