油 (yóu): oil

Meanings

1 oil
2 oily; greasy

Characters

油

yóu

oil; oily; sly

Contains 氵 (water radical) — oil is a liquid.

Examples

这个菜太油了。

Zhège cài tài yóu le.

This dish is too oily.

我需要加油。

Wǒ xūyào jiāyóu.

I need to refuel.

用橄榄油做菜。

Yòng gǎnlǎnyóu zuòcài.

Cook with olive oil.

Tips

culture

加油 (jiāyóu, literally 'add oil') is also used as an encouraging expression meaning 'Go for it!' or 'You can do it!' It was even added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2018.

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (left radical form)

Left water radical (Kangxi #85 水 in its 3-stroke compressed form). Anchors 油 in the liquid family: oil is a viscous fluid. The radical groups 河 (river), 海 (sea), 汁 (juice), 汽 (vapour), 酒 (wine — also liquid). Three small downward strokes pictographically suggest droplets running down.

phonetic

由 yóu

from; cause; via

Right phonetic 由 (yóu) — supplies the sound directly without shift. Same phonetic family as 邮 (yóu mail), 釉 (yòu glaze), 抽 (chōu pull), 袖 (xiù sleeve), 宙 (zhòu cosmos). Standalone 由 also means 'from, via, cause' — purely phonetic here, no semantic carryover into 油.