遊 (yóu) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

遊

yóu[you2]Tone 2

to swim, to roam, to travel

HSK 2

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游

Guru Deep Dive

English · to swim, to roam, to travel

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:12

Writing Balance Rule: The left component (water radical 氵) occupies about one-third of the width, while the right component (方 + children/travel elements) takes up the remaining two-thirds with balanced vertical alignment.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 遊 uses 㫃 and 𠂤 variants on the right, which was simplified in modern mainland Chinese to use 方 under a standard structure.

1. Meaning

to swim

to walkto tourto roamto travel

VerbNeutral#movement#water#recreation#travel

Sample Usage

我喜欢游泳。
wǒ xǐhuān yóuyǒng.
I like swimming.
他们在公园里游玩。
tāmen zài gōngyuán lǐ yóuwán.
They are sightseeing and playing in the park.

2. Sound

/[joʊ̯³⁵]/Tone: 35

遊

yóuyou2

´(35)

=yóu

Initial Consonant

Type: Palatal Glide (Zero Initial)

Sounds like: Zero initial, vowel glide 'y'

Unaspirated

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: Flat tongue position sliding smoothly into the final vowel.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -o vowel group

Sounds like: -ou rhymes with oh/ow sound

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

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

Tone

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 starts at a mid pitch and rises sharply to the top, exactly like answering with 'What?' or 'Hm?' in English.

👂

Listening trap: Mistaking Tone 2 (rising) for Tone 1 (flat) or Tone 4 (falling), which completely changes the word meaning.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Raise your hand upward and to the right, mimicking an inquiring or rising voice inflection like asking 'Yo?'

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 12 strokes

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 遊 uses 㫃 and 𠂤 variants on the right, which was simplified in modern mainland Chinese to use 方 under a standard structure.

4. Components

Radical 氵 · Water Radical (water, liquid, fluids)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 氵 (Indicates movement involving water, liquids, or flowing paths.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 方 (original sound: fāng / yóu phonetic derivation)

Water (氵) combines with a traveling person or direction indicator (方) to represent moving fluidly through water or roaming freely about.

氵 water / swimming context
方 direction / place / travel

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

3· Phonetic Root: 斿 (yóu)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally depicted a person moving or floating along a river or body of water, later standardized into water and phonetic components.

Semantic Evolution: Expanded from literal swimming in water to general roaming, traveling, and leisurely touring.

Ancient scholars often used 游 and 遊 interchangeably to mean roaming scholars or travelers.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ユウ (Yuu) / Kun: あそ.ぶ (asobu)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

유

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine diving into the WATER (氵) and swimming in every DIRECTION (方) while on a fun vacation TOUR.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

游

yóuto swim / to roamStandard simplified form for general use.

蝣

yóumayflyAdds insect radical (虫) on the left for the bug.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

油(yóu)

油 uses the same right side but means 'oil' because the left side is the water radical with an extra stroke or differs slightly in application; watch out for context (swimming vs oil).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我每天下午去[___]泳。

Clue: yóu

Common Learner Pitfall

Forgetting the water radical (氵) on the left and writing only the right phonetic side.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 游 mean and how is it pronounced with tone?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to swim / to roam' (yóu)?

遊yóuto swim, to roam, to travel

Speed:

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