p8nda
p8nda BETA
Home Dictionary Translate Flashcards Sign in

牖

yǒu
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 a window (especially a lattice window in a wall)
  2. 2 to enlighten; to guide toward understanding

Examples

淡淡的月光从窗牖透进来。
Dàndàn de yuèguāng cóng chuāng yǒu tòu jìnlái.
Faint moonlight came in through the lattice window.
良师牖导学生，开启心智。
Liángshī yǒu dǎo xuéshēng, kāiqǐ xīnzhì.
A good teacher enlightens students and opens their minds.

Tips

history
The literal sense is a window — in early texts 牖 was a wall-window while 窗 was a roof-opening. A window lets light in, so it also came to mean 'to enlighten', as in 牖民 ('to guide the people').

Components

semantic
片 piàn
a flat slice; board
Standalone 片 is a sawn slat of wood. On the left it points to the wooden slats a lattice window was built from.
semantic
户 hù
door; household
The door element 户 contributes the meaning of an opening in a wall — a window being a small 'door' for light and air.
phonetic
甫 fǔ
just; a man's courtesy name
Tucked under the door element, 甫 supplies the sound for the whole character; it carries no meaning to the window.

Stroke Order

牖 yǒu