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语

語
yǔ / yù
noun #1,470

Meanings

  1. 1 language; speech
  2. 2 words; expression
  3. 3 saying; proverb
  4. 4 signal that replaces speech

Examples

HSK 3
你会说几种语言？
Nǐ huì shuō jǐ zhǒng yǔyán?
How many languages can you speak?
HSK 3
汉语不难学。
Hànyǔ bù nán xué.
Chinese isn't hard to learn.
HSK 7-9
成语是中文的精华。
Chéngyǔ shì Zhōngwén de jīnghuá.
Idioms are the essence of Chinese.

Tips

usage
The 语 suffix names almost every language: 汉语 (Chinese), 英语 (English), 法语 (French), 日语 (Japanese). It also forms the core terms of linguistics: 语言 (language), 语法 (grammar), 成语 (idiom), 词语 (words/terms).
register
The everyday reading is 语 - 'language, speech, saying'. A rare literary reading 语 means 'to tell, to inform' and appears almost exclusively in classical texts (e.g. 不以语人 'do not tell others'). For modern compounds, always use 语.

Components

radical
讠 yán
speech (radical, left-side form of 言)
Left speech radical - the simplified side-form of 言. Marks 语 as a speech-and-language word. Same family populates almost every speaking verb: 说 to speak, 话 talk, 谈 discuss, 词 word, 译 translate.
phonetic
吾 wú
I, me (literary, phonetic)
Right side 吾 supplies the sound - wú drifted to yǔ, with the same 吾-phonetic series also producing 悟 to realize and 梧 parasol-tree. The literary 'I, me' meaning of 吾 is incidental, though learners sometimes use 'language of the I' as a memory aid for 'language' itself.

Stroke Order

语 yǔ