泳 (yǒng) is a Chinese character meaning “to swim”. It is written from 氵 (water (left-side form)) and 永 (forever; eternal), side by side, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “to swim”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
氵 + 永
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字：泳，潛行水中也。从水永聲。
Memory aid
Water (氵) on the left tells you what this is about; 永 on the right tells you how to say it — yǒng. Water plus yǒng: to swim.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 游泳yóu yǒngto swim; swimming泳 = yǒngHSK 2
- 泳池yǒng chíswimming pool泳 = yǒng
Go deeper
All readings
to swim
to swim; swimming
在水里游动。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 游泳yóu yǒngto swim; swimming泳 = yǒngHSK 2
- 泳池yǒng chíswimming pool泳 = yǒng
Sound component
永 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 泳 mean?
泳 (yǒng) means to swim; swimming.
How do you pronounce 泳?
It is pronounced yǒng.
What parts is 泳 made of?
氵 (water (left-side form)) and 永 (forever; eternal), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字：泳，潛行水中也。从水永聲。. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 泳 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 泳?
水. 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 泳?
Common ones are 游泳 and 泳池. The reading of 泳 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.