约 (yuē): to make an appointment, to invite, approximately, pact, treaty, to economize
约 (yuē) is a Chinese character meaning “to make an appointment.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 纟 (semantic) and 勺 (structural). It ranks #424 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 约 thread. Its radical form 纟 (silk) appears in many related characters such as 系 (xì, to connect), 累 (lěi, to accumulate), 绍 (shào, to continue).
Definitions
- to make an appointment
- to invite
- approximately
- pact
- treaty
- to economize
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 约 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 约
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 约会verb/noun | yuē huì | appointment | 4 |
| 大约adverb | dà yuē | approximately | 4 |
| 预约verb | yù yuē | booking | 5 |
| 约定verb | yuē dìng | to agree on sth (after discussion) | 5 |
| 约束verb | yuē shù | to restrict | 6 |
| 节约verb | jié yuē | to economize | 4 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 纽约 | niǔ yuē | New York |
| 约翰 | yuē hàn | John (name) |
| 合约 | hé yuē | contract |
| 契约 | qì yuē | agreement |
| 签约 | qiān yuē | to sign a contract or agreement |
| 条约 | tiáo yuē | treaty |
| 约瑟 | yuē sè | Joseph (name) |
| 约克 | yuē kè | York |
| 婚约 | hūn yuē | engagement |
| 租约 | zū yuē | lease |
| 北约 | běi yuē | NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) (abbr. for 北大西洋公約組織|北大西洋公约组织[Bei3 Da4 xi1 Yang2 Gong1 yue1 Zu3 zhi1]) |
| 赴约 | fù yuē | to keep an appointment |
| 旧约 | jiù yuē | former agreement |
| 爽约 | shuǎng yuē | to miss an appointment |
| 相约 | xiāng yuē | to agree (on a meeting place, date etc) |
约 appears in 100 compound words: 35 as the first character, 60 as the last, and 5 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 约 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (12)
Treaty of Nanjing (1842) that concluded the First Opium War between Qing China and Britain
to agree on a three-point law; to make a few rules to be observed by everyone
Treaty of Nanjing (1842) that concluded the First Opium War between Qing China and Britain
Showing 11 of 12 idioms containing 约.
Example Sentences
我们约好了明天下午三点在咖啡馆见面。
Wǒmen yuē hǎo le míngtiān xiàwǔ sān diǎn zài kāfēi guǎn jiànmiàn.
We made an appointment to meet at the coffee shop at three o'clock tomorrow afternoon.
“民歌50”唱进湾区,共赴岁月的约定
mín gē 5 0 chàng jìn wān qū , gòng fù suì yuè de yuē dìng
"Folk Song 50" sung into the Bay Area and went to the agreement of the years
暴风雪来袭 纽约市周一停课停学 19年来首见
bào fēng xuě lái xí niǔ yuē shì zhōu yī tíng kè tíng xué 1 9 nián lái shǒu jiàn
The blizzard hit New York City on Monday and closed classes for the first time in 19 years
这场新春之约,让更多家庭感受到浓浓暖意
zhè chǎng xīn chūn zhī yāo , ràng gēng duō jiā tíng gǎn shòu dào nóng nóng nuǎn yì
This New Year's date will make more families feel the warmth.
...走基层丨95后潜水员与千年白鹤梁的水下之约
. . . zǒu jī céng 丨 hòu qián shuǐ yuán yú qiān nián bái hè liáng de shuǐ xià zhī yāo
... The underwater appointment between the 95 divers and the thousand-year-old Baiheliang
日本一处地下水有机氟化合物超标约2000倍
rì běn yī chǔ dì xià shuǐ yǒu jī 氟 huā gě wù chāo biāo yāo bèi
Organic fluorine compounds in groundwater at a location in Japan exceed standards by approximately 2,000 times.
纽约市的人口有多少？
Niǔyuē Shì de rénkǒu yǒu duōshao?
How large is the population of New York City?
纽约的天气怎么样？
Niǔyuē de tiānqì zěnmeyàng?
How's the weather in New York?
您已经去过纽约了吗？
Nín yǐjīng qùguo Niǔyuē le ma?
Have you ever been to New York?
约翰想看韩国电影吗？
Yuēhàn xiǎng kàn Hánguó diànyǐng ma?
Does John want to see a Korean movie?
Character Family
纟 Radical Family — Characters sharing the silk radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 约 (yuē) mean in Chinese?
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Is 约 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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