御 meaning and stroke order
Chariot; to drive, to ride; to manage
How to write 御, stroke by stroke
12 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 御
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (bound form) imperial; royal
- (literary) to drive (a carriage)
- (literary) to manage; to govern
- (bound form) to defend; to resist
How 御 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Step.
彳 gives the meaning and 卸 hints at the sound.
Radical: 彳 (to step with the left foot), shared by 42 characters on this site.
How to remember 御
御 is built from 彳 (step, walking) on the left and 卸 (xiè, to unload) on the right as the sound part. Picture someone stepping along beside a carriage, unloading and steering it, which links to driving and managing.
Today 御 mostly appears in set words. It means "defend" in 防御 (fángyù) and 抵御 (dǐyù), and it means "imperial" in words like 御花园 (yùhuāyuán, imperial garden). Example: 我们要抵御寒冷。(Wǒmen yào dǐyù hánlěng.) We need to withstand the cold.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 御 with 卸 (xiè, to unload), because 御 contains 卸 almost whole. Remember that 御 has the extra 彳 on the left. Also note that the right side is 卸 without the 止 bottom, so do not write it as 卸 with a full 止.
Common words with 御
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
御 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 御
Learning 御 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 御
How many strokes are in 御?
御 is written with 12 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 御 mean?
御 (yù) means chariot; to drive, to ride; to manage. A common word with it is 防御 (fángyù), meaning "defense; to defend".
How do you pronounce 御?
御 is pronounced yù, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 御?
The radical of 御 is 彳, which carries the idea of "to step with the left foot". Dictionaries list 御 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 御?
The traditional form of 御 is 禦. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 御 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 御 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 御 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Is 御 the same as 驭 (yù), to drive?
They share the meaning of driving a carriage or controlling something, and in classical texts 御 was often used for this. In modern Chinese, 驾驭 (jiàyù) is usually written with 驭, while 御 is used for "imperial" and "defend".
Why does 御 mean both imperial and defend?
In traditional writing these were two characters: 御 for driving, managing and imperial things, and 禦 for defending. Simplified Chinese merged 禦 into 御, so one character now carries both meanings.