yāo
verb HSK 7-9 #6,987

Meanings

  1. 1 to invite
  2. 2 to request

Examples

Yāoqǐng
to invite
Yìngyāo
at someone's invitation

Tips

usage
is most often seen in 邀请 (yāoqǐng, to invite formally), 应邀 (yìngyāo, at someone's invitation), (yāoyuē, an invitation/appointment). More formal than the casual alone.

Components

radical
chuò
walk; movement (radical)
Bottom-left walking radical — the contracted form of , indexing radical for . Three strokes that wrap under and to the left, depicting motion along a path. Anchors in the going/coming family alongside (enter), 退 (retreat), (send), (welcome). The radical conveys the literal motion: going out to fetch someone.
phonetic
jiǎo
scattered; called-out (phonetic)
Upper-right phonetic — supplies the sound (jiǎo → yāo, palatal-glottal shift, same series as jiǎo, jiǎo, jī). itself is rare in standalone use but appears reliably as the phonetic in this small family. Combined image of : walking out () with a call () to invite — going to fetch the guest in person.

Stroke Order

yāo