How to Write 腴 (yú) — Meaning “fertile or plump”

Imagine a plump person (月 for flesh) eating a big meal in just a moment (臾 means a short while). The quick eating causes them to become plump and fertile. This links the character's components to its meaning of plumpness or fertility.

Write the left radical 月 first (3 strokes), then the right part 臾 (9 strokes). The top of 臾 is like 臼 (a mortar) but with a short horizontal stroke, and the bottom is 人. A common mistake is rushing the top of 臾 and making it look like 臼 or 欠, so take care to keep it balanced and closed.

腴 uses 臾 on the right and means plump or fertile. 朔 has 屰 (a reversed symbol) on the right and means the new moon (first day of lunar month). 朕 has 关 (or its traditional form) on the right and is a royal pronoun meaning 'I' or 'we' used by emperors. The right side components are visually distinct and indicate different meanings.

腴 is mostly used in formal or literary writing, often in words like 丰腴 (plump figure or fertile soil) and 膏腴 (fertile land). It appears in classical phrases such as 膏腴之地 to describe rich agricultural land. Though not common in daily speech, it is still used in geography and descriptions of lushness.

Common words containing 腴 include: 丰腴 (fēng yú) — Plump; fertile; 肥腴 (féi yú) — Fertile; rich; plump.; 膏腴 (gāo yú) — fertile (land) / rich.