莸

蕕

yóu

noun

Meanings

1 bluebeard (Caryopteris, an ornamental shrub)
2 (archaic) a foul-smelling weed

Characters

莸

yóu

bluebeard shrub; foul weed

Examples

HSK 7-9

莸是开淡蓝花的落叶灌木，可供观赏。

Yóu shì kāi dànlán huā de luòyè guànmù, kě gōng guānshǎng.

Bluebeard is a deciduous shrub with pale blue flowers, grown for ornament.

HSK 7-9

薰莸不同器。

Xūn yóu bùtóng qì.

Fragrant grass and the foul weed cannot share one vessel, just as good and bad people cannot work together.

Tips

history

Anciently 莸 meant a stinking weed, paired with 薰 (a fragrant herb) in the proverb that good and bad people, like sweet and foul plants, cannot share one container. In modern botany it names the ornamental bluebeard shrub.

Components

radical

艹 cǎo

grass; plant

艹 is the grass radical 草 in top form, marking this as a plant: a shrub in modern use, a weed in classical use.

phonetic

犹 yóu

still; like

犹 supplies the sound yóu, matching its own reading exactly, and serves only as the phonetic element with no meaning contribution.

Stroke Order

莸 yóu

莸