俑 meaning and stroke order
Wooden figure buried with dead
How to write 俑, stroke by stroke
9 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
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- 8
- 9
Meaning of 俑
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- wooden figures buried with the dead
How 俑 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Person.
亻 gives the meaning and 甬 hints at the sound.
Radical: 亻 (man), shared by 277 characters on this site.
How to remember 俑
The person radical 亻 sits beside 甬 (yǒng), which gives the sound. Picture a little person figure made to stand beside the dead, and the name sounds just like 甬.
俑 (yǒng) means a tomb figure, made of wood, clay, or pottery, that was buried with the dead in ancient China. You will mostly see it in compounds such as 陶俑 (táoyǒng, pottery figurine) and 兵马俑 (bīngmǎyǒng, terracotta warriors). Example: 我们去西安看兵马俑。(Wǒmen qù Xī'ān kàn bīngmǎyǒng.) We went to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 俑 with 涌 (yǒng, to gush) and 勇 (yǒng, brave), because all three share the same sound. Remember that only 俑 has the person radical 亻, since it refers to a human figure.
Questions about 俑
How many strokes are in 俑?
俑 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 俑 mean?
俑 (yǒng) means wooden figure buried with dead.
How do you pronounce 俑?
俑 is pronounced yǒng, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 俑?
The radical of 俑 is 亻, which carries the idea of "man". Dictionaries list 俑 under this radical.
What does 兵马俑 literally mean?
兵 (bīng) means soldier, 马 (mǎ) means horse, and 俑 (yǒng) means tomb figure. Together they mean soldier and horse tomb figures, the famous Terracotta Army of the first Qin emperor.
Is 俑 used in everyday conversation?
Not often. It mostly appears in history, museums, and archaeology. The idiom 始作俑者 (shǐ zuò yǒng zhě), meaning the person who started something bad, is the main place it shows up outside those topics.