yòu
verb #41,627

Meanings

  1. 1 to forgive; to pardon
  2. 2 to be lenient toward

Examples

Qǐng yòu wǒ de màofàn.
Please forgive my offense.
Huángdì kuānyòu le zhèwèi dàchén de guòshī.
The emperor pardoned this minister's mistake.

Tips

usage
is formal and literary. It mostly appears in the compound 宽宥 ('to pardon leniently') and in polite written requests for forgiveness; everyday speech uses 原谅.
memory
Under a roof you 'have' enough room to let someone off, picture sheltering a wrongdoer rather than punishing them: to forgive.

Components

radical
mián
roof
The roof radical caps the character; the original sense is a wide house roomy enough to shelter and pardon someone.
phonetic
yǒu
to have
gives the sound (shifted from yǒu to yòu) and hints at 'having space' under the roof to be lenient.

Stroke Order

yòu