淤 (yū) is a Chinese character meaning “silt”. It is written from 氵 (water (left-side form)) and 於 (at; in (literary preposition)), side by side, and takes 11 strokes.
Build the character for “silt”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
氵 + 於
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字: 淤，澱滓，濁泥。从水，於聲 (modern form checked against hanzi-writer-data strokes 0–2 氵, 3–10 於)
Memory aid
Water (氵) that stays put in (於) one place stops flowing, and mud settles to the bottom — silt. (A memory aid, not the historical origin.)
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
11 strokes
In real words
- 淤泥yū nísilt; sludge; mud淤 = yū
- 淤积yū jīto silt up; sedimentation淤 = yū
Go deeper
All readings
silt
silt; sludge; mud deposited by water; to silt up; (of blood) stagnant
水中沉积的泥沙；也指泥沙沉积、水道堵塞，或血液凝滞不通。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 淤泥yū nísilt; sludge; mud淤 = yū
- 淤积yū jīto silt up; sedimentation淤 = yū
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 淤 mean?
淤 (yū) means silt; sludge; mud deposited by water; to silt up; (of blood) stagnant.
How do you pronounce 淤?
It is pronounced yū.
What parts is 淤 made of?
氵 (water (left-side form)) and 於 (at; in (literary preposition)), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字: 淤，澱滓，濁泥。从水，於聲 (modern form checked against hanzi-writer-data strokes 0–2 氵, 3–10 於). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 淤 have?
11. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 淤?
氵. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 淤?
Common ones are 淤泥 and 淤积. The reading of 淤 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.