How to Write 俑 (yǒng) — Meaning “funerary figurine”

Imagine a person (亻) standing inside a tomb passage (甬) as a silent guardian. This image of a figure placed in an underground path helps you recall that 俑 means "funerary figurine," like the Terracotta Warriors.

Write the left radical 亻 first (two strokes: slash and vertical line). Then write the right part 甬: start with the top horizontal hook, then the vertical through the middle, and finally the two horizontal lines inside — do not close the bottom too early. A common mistake is making the right part look like 用 (yòng) by forgetting the top hook or adding an extra stroke.

伯 (bó) means "uncle" or "elder" and has 白 (bái) on the right, while 估 (gū) means "estimate" and has 古 (gǔ) on the right. In contrast, 俑 has 甬 on the right and specifically refers to burial figurines, not living people or actions. Visually, the right side of 俑 has a horizontal hook at the top and a vertical line through the middle, unlike 伯's 白 or 估's 古.

俑 appears mainly in historical and archaeological contexts, most famously in the word 兵马俑 (bīng mǎ yǒng, Terracotta Warriors) from Qin Shihuang's tomb. It is also used in the idiom 始作俑者 (shǐ zuò yǒng zhě), which originally meant "the first to make figurines" but now refers to the person who started a bad trend — a reference to the ancient practice of burying clay figures instead of live humans.

Common words containing 俑 include: 兵马俑 (bīng mǎ yǒng) — Terracotta Warriors; 陶俑 (táo yǒng) — pottery figurine; 始作俑者 (shǐ zuò yǒng zhě) — the person who started an evil trend; the initiator.