How to Write 有 (yǒu) — Meaning “to have; there is; there are”

Picture a hand (又) holding a piece of moon (月) — if you hold the moon, you 'have' something amazing! This visual helps you link the shape to the meaning of possession.

Write the left radical 月 first: a left-falling stroke, then a horizontal fold hook, then two short horizontal lines inside (4 strokes). Then add 又 on the right: a horizontal left-falling stroke followed by a right-falling stroke (2 strokes). A common mistake is making the 月 part too wide — keep it narrow so the character stays balanced.

月 (yuè) means 'moon' or 'month' and has no extra hand part — it's a single character. 朊 (ruǎn) is a rare character meaning 'protein' or 'soft', and it adds 元 (yuán) inside 月 instead of 又 on the side. The key difference is that 有 always has the hand component 又 on the right.

有 is used to indicate possession ('to have') or existence ('there is/are'), as in 我有书 (I have a book) or 桌子上有笔 (There is a pen on the table). Culturally, 有钱 (rich) and 有名 (famous) are very common words that show how 有 combines with nouns to describe status or qualities.

Common words containing 有 include: 有钱 (yǒu qián) — rich; 没有 (méi yǒu) — Don't have / There is not; 有名 (yǒu míng) — famous; well-known.