yòu
verb #16,380

Meanings

  1. 1 to bless (divine protection)
  2. 2 to protect (by heaven)

Examples

Yuàn shàngtiān bǎo yòu nǐ píng'ān.
May heaven bless and protect you.
Tiān yòu Zhōnghuá.
Heaven protects China.

Tips

usage
and are variant characters with the same meaning and pronunciation. 保佑 is more commonly written with , but (with the radical, meaning 'spirit/deity') is the older form.

Components

radical
shì
altar; spirit (radical form of 示)
Altar-on-the-left radical — the side-form of , originally a pictograph of a stone altar. Heads every character connected to ritual and divine action ( god, blessing, pray, wish, sacrifice). Locks to the realm of heavenly aid: divine blessing channelled through ritual rather than human help.
phonetic
yòu
right; to assist (here phonetic + semantic)
Right supplies sound and meaning. Sound: yòu = yòu, identical reading. Meaning: originally pictured a hand offering help (early sense 'to assist,' preserved in , the human variant of ). With the altar radical the assistance becomes divine — heaven's hand reaching down. and are essentially the same word, one altar-side, one person-side.

No stroke data for ; the glyph shown is your device font, so component strokes can't be highlighted.

Stroke Order

yòu