How to Write 崾 (yǎo) — Meaning “Mountain saddle”

Imagine a mountain (山) that "wants" (要) to wear a saddle, like a horse. The saddle sits in the low dip between two peaks, which is exactly what a mountain saddle is. The sound yǎo can also remind you of "yowl" - a cat yowling from a high mountain pass.

Write 山 first with three strokes, keeping it small and centered. Then write 要: start with the top 覀-like part (horizontal, vertical, horizontal fold, vertical, then a horizontal), followed by 女 below. A common mistake is making 山 too tall or the lower 女 too narrow, which ruins the balance. Keep the whole character compact, with 要 slightly wider than 山.

峨 (é) means "lofty" and appears in place names like 峨眉山; it uses 我 below. 峪 (yù) means "valley" and uses 谷 below. 崾 specifically means a mountain saddle or pass, not a peak or valley. Visually, 崾 has 要 below, while 峨 has a more complex 我, and 峪 has 谷 with a different bottom.

崾 is a rare character not in the HSK list. It appears almost only in geographical terms such as 崾岘 (a specific pass name) and 山崾 (mountain pass). In traditional culture, mountain saddles were strategic travel routes. You will hardly see this character in everyday writing, only in specialized maps or history books.

Common words containing 崾 include: 崾岘 (yǎo xiàn) — Mountain saddle; 山崾 (shān yǎo) — Mountain pass; 崾口 (yǎo kǒu) — Mountain pass / saddle.