How to Write 庾 (yǔ) — Meaning “a surname or granary”

Imagine a roof (广) covering a pile of grain (臾) that you need to store for a little while. The right part 臾 looks like a small container with a lid, helping you picture a granary.

The radical 广 should be written first, with a dot, then a horizontal stroke, then a left-falling stroke that extends down and covers the right part. Inside, the 臾 component has 7 strokes: common mistakes are making the right part too wide or mixing up the order of the final two strokes (left-falling then right-falling).

Unlike 庾, 㢆 is an ancient or rare variant form (not used in modern Chinese), while 庠 (xiáng) means 'school' and has the component 羊 (sheep) inside instead of 臾. Visually, 庾 has a more complex right side, and their meanings are completely different.

庾 is mostly used as a surname (e.g., the poet 庾信 of the Northern and Southern Dynasties) and in place names like 庾岭 (the Yu Mountains) or 大庾 (a county in Jiangxi). It is not common in everyday vocabulary, so you will mainly encounter it in historical or geographical contexts.

Common words containing 庾 include: 庾岭 (yǔ lǐng) — Yu Mountains; 庾姓 (yǔ xìng) — the surname Yu; 大庾 (dà yǔ) — Dayu (a place name).