How to Write 莸 (yóu) — Meaning “Caryopteris (bluebeard)”

Imagine a bluebeard plant with grass on top and the word ’you’ (sounds like 尤) written on its stem. The grass radical reminds you it is a plant, and 尤 sounds like ’you’, so you can think ’You see a bluebeard plant’.

First write the grass radical 艹 with a horizontal stroke then two vertical strokes spaced evenly. Then write the bottom part 尤: start with a horizontal stroke, then a vertical stroke, then a horizontal hook, and finally a left-falling stroke. A common mistake is making the hook of 尤 too long or forgetting the left-falling stroke at the end.

莸 has the bottom part 尤, while 兹 has bottom part 丝 (two intertwined silk threads) and means ’this’ or ’now’. 苑 has bottom part 夗 and means ’garden’ or ’park’. Visually, 莸 looks like grass over a simple ’you’ shape, while the others have more complex bottoms.

莸 is very rare and appears mostly in botanical names like 莸草 (bluebeard plant) and in classical phrases such as 兰莸 (orchid and caryopteris), which symbolizes good versus evil. You will not find it in everyday conversation, but it may appear in poetry or plant science texts.

Common words containing 莸 include: 莸草 (yóu cǎo) — Caryopteris / Bluebeard; 兰莸 (lán yóu) — Orchid and caryopteris (fragrant plants); 莸属 (yóu shǔ) — genus Caryopteris.