雩

yú
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 (classical) the ancient summer sacrifice praying for rain

Examples

HSK 7-9
旱情严重时,君王举行雩祭祈雨。
Hànqíng yánzhòng shí, jūnwáng jǔxíng yú jì qíyǔ.
When the drought was severe, the king held the rain sacrifice and prayed for relief.

Tips

history
雩 is not used independently in modern Chinese. It survives in classical ritual terms like 雩祭 (the rain ceremony) and 舞雩 (the rain-dance altar mentioned in the Analects). The phonetic is 亏 in its old 于 form.
register
Archaic and ritual vocabulary, found in classical texts and etymology notes, not in everyday speech.

Components

radical
雨 yǔ
rain
雨 is the rain radical on top, carrying the meaning: a 雩 is a ceremony performed to pray for rain in a drought.
phonetic
亏 kuī
to lose; deficient
Below the rain sits the old 于 sound element, now written as 亏; it supplies the reading yú rather than meaning.

Stroke Order

雩 yú