How to Write 妤 (yú) — Meaning “beautiful; elegant”

Picture a graceful woman (女) receiving (予) a gift of flowers, which highlights her elegance. The image of the woman accepting something beautiful reinforces both the radical and the meaning of 'beautiful, elegant.'

Write the left radical 女 with three strokes: left-falling, right-falling, then a horizontal that crosses both. The right side 予 has four strokes: top dot, left-falling, bottom horizontal, and a final hook. A common mistake is making the hook on 予 too small or missing it entirely, and also making the right side too narrow.

妤 uses 予 on the right (meaning elegant), while 奴 (nú) uses 又 (hand) meaning slave, and 奶 (nǎi) uses 乃 meaning milk. Visually, 予 has a dot and a hook, 又 has a cross-like shape, and 乃 has a curved stroke — their meanings and pronunciations are completely different.

妤 is rarely used alone today except in historical terms like 婕妤 (jiéyú), an ancient imperial concubine title, or in female given names to imply beauty and grace. It is not in the HSK vocabulary and is considered a classical character, so learners will mainly encounter it in literature or historical texts.

Common words containing 妤 include: 婕妤 (jié yú) — Jieyu (a high-ranking imperial concubine title in ancient China); 妤妤 (yú yú) — beautiful (often used in names); 妤婕 (yú jié) — beautiful and graceful.