熨 (yù) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

熨

yù[yu4]Tone 4

iron, smooth, reconcile

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · iron, smooth, reconcile

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:15

Writing Balance Rule: The upper part (尉) must be compact and centered, while the bottom base (寸) acts as a solid anchor, keeping the entire character vertically balanced.

1. Meaning

to iron (clothes)

smoothreconciledfree from worries

Verb / AdjectiveNeutral#household#clothing#state of mind

Sample Usage

请帮我熨一下这件衬衫。
Qǐng bāng wǒ yù yīxià zhè jiàn chènshān.
Please help me iron this shirt.
心里熨贴
xīnlǐ yùtiē
feeling completely comforted and at ease

2. Sound

/[y⁵¹]/Tone: 51

熨

yùyu4

`(51)

=yù

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "u" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Glide (y)

Sounds like: Glide (y)

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Acts as a bridge into 'i' or 'ü' vowel sounds.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Raise middle of tongue toward hard palate, gliding effortlessly into vowel.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -v vowel group

Sounds like: yu rhymes with the 'u' sound in French 'lune' or German 'müde'

Note: Written as 'u', pronounced as rounded 'ü' [y].

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ü'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and drops sharply to the bottom, identical to a sharp, authoritative command like 'NO!'

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the rounded front vowel 'yü' with the retroflex or back vowels like 'u' or 'ao'. Remember that 'y' in Pinyin before 'u' represents the rounded front high vowel [y].

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp karate chop starting high and plunging downward to the floor, mimicking an iron pressing flatly downward.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 15 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The upper part (尉) must be compact and centered, while the bottom base (寸) acts as a solid anchor, keeping the entire character vertically balanced.

4. Components

Radical 寸 · Inch Radical (thumb, inch, measurement)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 寸 (Represents hand control and precision measurement)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 尉 (original sound: yù)

An upper phonetic component '尉' (officer/calm) sits above the '寸' (inch/hand) radical, symbolizing a steady hand pressing down evenly to smooth things out.

尉 Provides the pronunciation and the core imagery of pressing/settling
寸 Provides the semantic nuance of hand control and measurement

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

4· Phonetic Root: 尉 (wèi)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally depicted a heating vessel or a tool held by a hand to press and smooth fabrics in ancient times, evolving into the modern character for ironing.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from the physical act of heating and pressing garments to metaphorical extensions like emotional comfort and being 'smooth' or 'reconciled'.

Ancient irons were metal pans filled with burning charcoal used to press silk robes smooth.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine an **officer** (尉) holding a hot metal pan with his **hand/thumb** (寸) to **iron** (yù) his wrinkled uniform flat before inspection.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

尉

wèisurname Wei; military officerPhonetic Core (声旁)

慰

wèito comfort+ 心 (heart)

蔚

yùsurname Yu; place name+ 艹 (plants)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

蔚(wèi)

Has the grass radical (艹) on top instead of the box/cliff structure, meaning lush or luxuriant vegetation.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

妈妈正在用电熨斗帮爸爸[___]衬衫。

Clue: yù

Common Learner Pitfall

Mispronouncing the tone as Tone 1 or Tone 3 instead of the sharp falling Tone 4, or miswriting the complex 15-stroke structure.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see the character 熨, what is its primary verb meaning and Pinyin?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to iron clothes' (yù) with 15 strokes?

熨yùiron, smooth, reconcile

Speed:

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