Writing Balance Rule: The two symmetrical parts should be balanced side by side, resembling a pair of wings curving outward.
1. Meaning
feather, plume
wing5th note in the traditional Chinese pentatonic musical scale (gōng, shāng, jué, zhǐ, yǔ)
NounNeutral#animals#anatomy#music
Sample Usage
羽毛
yǔmáo
feather, plume
羽毛球
yǔmáoqiú
badminton
2. Sound
/[y³⁵]/Tone: 35
羽
yǔyu3
|
++
ˇ(214)
=yǔ
Initial Consonant
y
Type: Palatal Glide (Zero Initial)
Sounds like: Zero initial (starts directly with the vowel sound ü)
Unaspirated
Airflow Tactile Test: Acts as a bridge into 'i' or 'ü' vowel sounds.
Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches lower front teeth, middle of tongue humped toward hard palate, lips tightly rounded.
Final Rhyme
u
Vowel Group: -v vowel group
Sounds like: French 'u' or German 'ü'
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
T3 (214)
2 → 1 → 4 (214)
3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)
Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips down then rises sharply, identical to asking 'What?' in English disbelief.
Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone, it changes to a 2nd tone.
👂
Listening trap: Often confused with yǔ ( yǔ / yǔ ) when spoken quickly, but pay attention to context. Do not confuse with the retroflex initials.
👋
Physical Tone Gesture: Start at a low pitch in your vocal range and sweep upward sharply like raising your eyebrows in surprise.
3. Writing
Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 6 strokes
Writing Balance Rule: The two symmetrical parts should be balanced side by side, resembling a pair of wings curving outward.
4. Components
Radical羽 · Feather Radical (Feather or bird wings)
Semantic Clue (形旁):羽 (Depicts two side-by-side bird feathers)
The character consists of two curved feather shapes placed side-by-side, representing a pair of bird wings or tail feathers.
习 Repeated wing/feather strokes on the left and right
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
4· Phonetic Root: 羽 (yǔ)
5. History
Liushu category: Pictogram (象形)
Origin: Originally drawn as two curved bird feathers or wings side by side in Oracle Bone script.
Semantic Evolution: From physical bird feathers and wings, it expanded to mean plumage-related items and eventually musical notes in ancient theory.
In ancient Chinese pentatonic music theory, the five notes are 宫 (gōng), 商 (shāng), 角 (jué), 徵 (zhǐ), and 羽 (yǔ), corresponding roughly to Do, Re, Mi, Sol, La.
6. Sinosphere
🇯🇵
Kanji (Japanese)
On: ウ / Kun: はね / はばたく
🇰🇷
Hanja (Korean)
우
7. Memory
Vivid Mnemonic Story
Imagine two graceful bird feathers (羽) swaying side by side in the breeze, lifting up toward the sky with a rising tone.
Phonetic Family (形声字家族)
习
xíto practiceHalf of the feather character, meaning a bird flapping its wings repeatedly to learn to fly.
翠
cuìemerald greenFeather (羽) combined with feather-like plumage colors or earth, signifying kingfisher feathers.
Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)
习(xí)
习 is just a single wing/fold stroke (2 strokes), whereas 羽 is a double feather side by side (6 strokes).
8. Mastery
Active Recall Challenge
这只鸟的___毛非常鲜艳。
Clue: yǔ
Common Learner Pitfall
Confusing the rounded 'ü' sound with an English 'u' or 'oo' sound, failing to round the lips while keeping the tongue in the 'ee' position.
Memory Prompts
Recognition: What does the character 羽 represent visually and what is its primary meaning?
Production: How do you write the character for 'feather' (yǔ) and what is its tone?
Real-World Video Context
Watch authentic native speakers pronounce and explain this word in real-world YouTube videos.
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羽yǔfeather
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