夭 (yāo): to die young; to die prematurely

Meanings

1 to die young; to die prematurely
2 lush; flourishing (of vegetation)

Characters

夭

yāo

to die young; lush

Examples

他不幸早夭。

Tā bùxìng zǎo yāo.

He sadly died young.

桃之夭夭，灼灼其华。

Táo zhī yāo yāo, zhuó zhuó qí huá.

The peach trees are lush and verdant, their blossoms burning bright. (Book of Songs)

Tips

history

The most famous appearance is 《诗经·桃夭》 ('Peach Tree Tender'), a wedding song from the Book of Songs (~1000 BCE). 桃之夭夭 ('the peach is lush') is also the source of the homophonous slang 逃之夭夭 (táozhīyāoyāo, 'to flee scot-free') - a pun where 桃 ('peach') was swapped for 逃 ('to flee').

memory

The 'bent/cut short' image carries into the meaning 'to die young'.

Components

radical

大 dà

big; outstretched person

The lower 大 (a person with arms outstretched) is the indexing Kangxi radical and forms the body of 夭. The full graph shows that outstretched figure with head bent over - an image of either a swaying dancer or an early death, giving 夭's twin meanings.

ideograph

丿 piě

left-falling stroke; bent head

Opening left-falling stroke functions as a head-tilt marker distinguishing 夭 from its base graph 大 - an abstract positional indicator rather than a depiction. The slant at the top is what carries the 'bent head' meaning. Historically the original 夭 pictured a person with their head lolling.