How to Write 泳 (yǒng) — Meaning “to swim”

Imagine a person swimming forever (永) in water (氵). The right side 永 looks like a swimmer with arms stretched out and a kick—the top stroke is the head, the middle horizontal is an arm, the right hook is the other arm, and the bottom strokes are legs. This visual links the shape to the action of swimming.

Pay attention to the right side 永: it has a dot on top, then a horizontal stroke, a right-falling hook, and finally left and right strokes below. A common mistake is to make the right side too wide or to forget the small hook at the end of the middle stroke. Keep the left water radical narrow and the right side balanced.

泳 (to swim) has 永 on the right, while 㳄 (sometimes a variant of 涎, saliva) has 欠 (a person with an open mouth) on the right. 汊 (a branch of a river) uses 叉 (fork) on the right. Visually, 泳 has a dot and hook on the top right, unlike 㳄 which has more angular strokes, and 汊 which has a simple cross shape.

泳 is almost always used in compound words related to swimming, such as 游泳 (yóu yǒng, to swim), 泳池 (yǒng chí, swimming pool), and 泳衣 (yǒng yī, swimsuit). It is a formal character and not used alone as a verb; instead, the full term 游泳 is the common way to say 'to swim'. Culturally, swimming is a popular sport in China, especially during summer.

Common words containing 泳 include: 游泳 (yóu yǒng) — To swim; 泳池 (yǒng chí) — swimming pool; 泳衣 (yǒng yī) — swimsuit.