yóu
verb HSK 3 #2,419

Meanings

  1. 1 to swim
  2. 2 to travel; to tour; to roam

Characters

Contains the water radical , reflecting swimming as the original meaning.

Examples

Yú zài shuǐ lǐ yóu.
The fish swims in the water.
Tā xǐhuan dàochù yóu.
He likes to travel everywhere.

Tips

usage
combines with other characters to form common words: 游泳 (swim), 游戏 (game), 旅游 (travel/tourism), 游客 (tourist).

Components

radical
shuǐ
water (left-side radical form of 水)
Left is the three-drops water radical — three abbreviated waves, the side-form of . Anchors the original sense of : 'to swim, drift on water'. From physical swimming came the abstract sense of roaming or touring (drifting from place to place). Same radical family: river, sea, swim, to drift.
phonetic
yóu
banner; drift (phonetic + semantic)
Right supplies an exact phonetic match yóu. It originally pictured a child holding a flagpole with streamers flowing in the wind — pure visual of 'drifting'. So this is sound-plus-semantic: the banner's drift reinforces water-drift, both literal swimming and metaphorical roaming. The component is rare standalone but recognisable inside , , .

Stroke Order

yóu