吁 meaning and stroke order
Alas; to sigh
How to write 吁, stroke by stroke
6 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
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- 6
Meaning of 吁
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- sh
- hush
- to implore
- variant of 籲|吁[yu4]
How 吁 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Mouth.
口 gives the meaning and 于 hints at the sound.
Radical: 口 (mouth), shared by 428 characters on this site.
How to remember 吁
吁 combines 口 (mouth) for meaning with 于 (yú) for sound. Picture a mouth letting out a long breath, a sigh that sounds a bit like yú.
吁 has two readings. As xū it describes breathing out or sighing, most often in the set phrase 气喘吁吁 (qìchuǎnxūxū, panting). As yù it means to appeal, mainly in 呼吁 (hūyù): 政府呼吁大家节约用水。(Zhèngfǔ hūyù dàjiā jiéyuē yòng shuǐ.) The government is calling on everyone to save water.
Common mistake: Learners often read 呼吁 as hūxū. In this word it is yù, fourth tone, while xū is used in 气喘吁吁. Also do not confuse 吁 with 吓 (xià, to scare), which has 下 on the right instead of 于.
Common words with 吁
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
吁 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 吁
How many strokes are in 吁?
吁 is written with 6 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 吁 mean?
吁 (xū) means alas; to sigh. A common word with it is 呼吁 (hūyù), meaning "to call on (sb to do sth); to appeal (to)".
How do you pronounce 吁?
吁 is pronounced xū, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 吁?
The radical of 吁 is 口, which carries the idea of "mouth". Dictionaries list 吁 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 吁?
The traditional form of 吁 is 籲. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 吁 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 吁 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 吁 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does 吁 have a traditional form 籲 that looks so different?
In simplified Chinese, 吁 also took over the meaning of 籲 (yù, to appeal). So 呼吁 is written 呼籲 in traditional script. The xū meaning of sighing was already written 吁 in traditional texts too.
Can I use 吁 alone in everyday speech?
Not usually. On its own it appears mostly in literary writing as a sigh or a hush sound. In daily Chinese you will meet it inside words like 呼吁 and 气喘吁吁.