HanziGuru.狱 · yù
狱
yù[yu4]Tone 4

prison

HSK 7
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獄
Guru Deep Dive

English · prison

Cached lesson
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Topology:Left-right
Strokes:11
Writing Balance Rule: The left dog radical (犭) takes up about one-third of the width, leaving the right side (言 and two 夫 components stacked) balanced with clean horizontal spacing.
Simplification Logic: The traditional form 獄 was simplified to 狱 by replacing the complex right-hand side with a streamlined phonetic component while maintaining the dog radical on the left.
1. Meaning

prison, jail

lawsuit, legal case (literary)
NounFormalBound morpheme#law#justice#punishment
Sample Usage
  • 他被关进了监狱。
    tā bèi guān jìn le yù.
    He was locked up in prison.
  • 入狱
    rù yù
    to go to prison, imprisonment
2. Sound
/[y³⁵]/Tone: 35
狱
yùyu4
++
`(51)
=yù
Build the syllable
Step-by-step blending
yu
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
y
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
u
Vowel Group: -v vowel group
Sounds like: ü rhymes with the French 'u' or German 'ü', similar to 'ee' said with pursed lips
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)
4th Tone (High-Falling)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 is a rising pitch (35), exactly like a surprised question in English such as 'Really?'
👂
Listening trap: Confusing the rounded front vowel 'ü' (written as 'y' after Glide (y/w) / Vowel start) with the plain unrounded 'i' or the back vowel 'u'.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture moving upward from left to right, matching the questioning intonation of 'What?' in English.
3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 11 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left dog radical (犭) takes up about one-third of the width, leaving the right side (言 and two 夫 components stacked) balanced with clean horizontal spacing.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 獄 was simplified to 狱 by replacing the complex right-hand side with a streamlined phonetic component while maintaining the dog radical on the left.

4. Components

Radical 犭 · Dog Radical (Animals, beasts, fierce entities)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 犭 (Indicates wild beasts or confinement of dangerous entities)

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

Picture two fierce dogs (犭) barking and arguing inside an enclosure, representing a place where criminals and fierce disputes are contained.

  • 犭 Dog radical (animal/ferocious aspect)
  • 言 Speech / argument / litigation
  • 犬 Dog / ferocious beast
5. History
Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally depicted two dogs fighting or growling at each other, representing legal disputes and litigation. Over time, it came to mean the place where litigants and criminals are detained—the prison.

Semantic Evolution: From ancient disputes and litigation (lawsuits) to the physical institution where wrongdoers are kept (prison).

  • In ancient China, courtrooms and detention facilities were closely linked conceptually as places of dispute resolution and punishment.
6. Sinosphere
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: ゴク
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
옥
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story

Fierce wild dogs (犭) are guarding the prison where people who broke the law with their words (言) are locked up.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
域
yùregion, areaAdd earth (土) on the left for a region or territory.
欲
yùdesire, wishAdd want/valley component (欠) on the right for desire.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
域(yù)
狱 has a dog radical (犭) for prison guards/beasts, whereas 域 has an earth radical (土) for land/region.
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
那个罪犯昨天被判了无期徒[___]。
Clue: yù
Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the character structure with 域 (region) due to the identical right-hand side.

Memory Prompts
Recognition: What does 狱 mean when you see it in words like 监狱 (jiānyù)?
Production: How do you write the character for 'prison' starting with the dog radical?
Real-World Video Context

Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.

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