yǒu
noun #4,301

Meanings

  1. 1 friend
  2. 2 friendly; amicable

Examples

Tā shì wǒ zuìhǎo de péngyou.
He is my best friend.
Yǒuhǎo de rén dàochù shòu huānyíng.
Friendly people are welcome everywhere.
Zhōng Rì yǒuhǎo.
China-Japan friendship.

Tips

usage
is used in: 朋友 (friend), 友好 (friendly), 友谊 (friendship), 友人 (friend, formal), /女朋友 (boyfriend/girlfriend), 网友 (online friend). The character shows two hands reaching toward each other.

Components

radical
yòu
right hand (radical)
Bottom right hand — also the indexing radical (Kangxi #29). Pictograph of three fingers extended. With the contracted hand above, is one of the most semantically transparent compounds in the script: two hands clasped = friendship. Same radical anchors , , , — the hand-action family.
semantic
yòu
right hand (top, contracted form)
Top two strokes — a stylised contracted form of (right hand), drawn here with the diagonal sweeping leftward to mirror the bottom hand. In the oracle-bone original explicitly showed two right hands clasping or reaching toward each other. The top hand is the contracted variant of , appearing in this compressed form so two hands fit into one square.

Stroke Order

yǒu