How to Write 邮 (yóu) — Meaning “post; mail”

Imagine a postage stamp (由) sitting on top of a hill (阝, which looks like a hill). This reminds you that 邮 relates to mail and stamps, and the hill represents the post office building.

The left part 由 has five strokes: vertical, horizontal turn, horizontal, vertical, horizontal. The right part 阝 is two strokes: a horizontal hook and a vertical line. A common mistake is making the right side too tall; it should be slightly shorter than the left side to keep balance.

邮 (yóu) has 由 on the left and means 'mail' or 'post'. The similar characters 邗 (hán) and 邘 (yú) have different left parts (干 and 于) and are rare place names, not related to mail. The right radical 阝 is the same, so focus on the left component to tell them apart.

邮 is very common in daily life for anything related to mail. You will see it in words like 邮局 (post office), 邮件 (mail or email), and 邮票 (stamp). In China, 邮局 is a familiar place, and 邮件 also refers to electronic mail (电子邮件).

Common words containing 邮 include: 邮局 (yóu jú) — post office; 邮件 (yóu jiàn) — mail; email; 邮票 (yóu piào) — stamp.