輿 meaning and stroke order
Cart, palanquin, sedan chair
How to write 輿, stroke by stroke
17 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 輿
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (literary) chassis of a carriage (contrasted with the canopy 堪[kan1])
- (literary) (fig.) the earth (while the carriage canopy is a metaphor for heaven); land; territory
- (literary) carriage
- (literary) sedan chair; palanquin
- (bound form) the multitudes; the people; the public
How 輿 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. A cart 車 carried on one's shoulder 舁.
Radical: 車 (cart), shared by 49 characters on this site.
How to remember 輿
Picture a cart 車 (chē) tucked inside 舁 (yú), the shape of hands lifting something up. A vehicle carried on people's shoulders is a palanquin, which is what 輿 (yú) means.
Today 輿 (simplified 舆) rarely appears alone. It is mostly found in set words like 舆论 (yúlùn, public opinion) and 舆图 (yútú, an old word for map), where it carries the senses "the people" or "land." Example: 舆论压力很大。(Yúlùn yālì hěn dà.) The pressure of public opinion is huge.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 輿 (yú) with 與 (yǔ, and, with), because both are built around the same lifting-hands frame. Look at the middle: 輿 holds 車, while 與 holds a small 与. The tones also differ, second tone for 輿 and third tone for 與.
Common words with 輿
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 輿論 | yúlùn | public opinion | HSK 7-9 |
Questions about 輿
How many strokes are in 輿?
輿 is written with 17 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 輿 mean?
輿 (yú) means cart, palanquin, sedan chair. A common word with it is 舆论 (yúlùn), meaning "public opinion".
How do you pronounce 輿?
輿 is pronounced yú, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 輿?
The radical of 輿 is 車, which carries the idea of "cart". Dictionaries list 輿 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 輿?
輿 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 舆, used in mainland China and Singapore.
Why does 輿 mean both "carriage" and "the earth"?
In classical writing the base of a carriage was compared to the earth, and the canopy above was compared to heaven. From this image 輿 came to mean land or territory, as in 舆地 (yúdì, land, geography).
How did a word for carriage come to mean "the public"?
The dictionary lists "the multitudes, the people" as a bound sense of 輿. It only appears inside compounds, so in modern Chinese you will meet it almost entirely in 舆论 (yúlùn, public opinion) and 舆情 (yúqíng, public sentiment).