How to Write 臾 (yú) — Meaning “A short time; a moment.”

Picture a person (人) quickly dipping their hand into a rice-pounding mortar (臼) for just a moment. This visual of a brief action helps you recall that 臾 means a short time or instant.

Start by writing the radical 臼: first the left vertical stroke, then the top horizontal, then the right vertical, and finally the inner two horizontal strokes. The bottom part 人 should be written with a left-falling stroke and a right-falling stroke; be careful not to make the top too wide or the bottom too narrow.

臼 (jiù) is just the radical for mortar without the bottom 人 component, while 臽 (xiàn) has 臼 on top but adds a curved bottom resembling a pit, meaning a trap. In contrast, 臾 has 臼 plus a person shape below and means a brief moment, not a trap or a tool.

臾 is not used alone in modern Chinese; it appears in classical expressions like 须臾 (xū yú, a moment) found in literary or formal writing. It is also used in Buddhist texts to describe fleeting time, reminding learners of the impermanence of moments.

Common words containing 臾 include: 须臾 (xū yú) — A moment / An instant; 须臾间 (xū yú jiān) — In a moment / In an instant; 臾臾 (yú yú) — Briefly; for a moment..