餘 meaning and stroke order
Surplus, remainder, excess
How to write 餘, stroke by stroke
15 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 餘
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- extra
- surplus
- remaining
- remainder after division
- (following numerical value) or more
- in excess of (some number)
How 餘 is built
Ideographic (compound meaning) character. Extra 余 food 飠; 余 also provides the pronunciation.
Radical: 飠 (food), shared by 44 characters on this site.
How to remember 餘
The left side 飠 means food, and the right side 余 (yú) gives the sound. Picture extra food 飠 left on the table after a meal, and you have 餘, the surplus or remainder.
餘 is the traditional form, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Mainland simplified Chinese writes it as 余. It appears in words like 其餘 (qíyú) the rest and 業餘 (yèyú) amateur or spare time. After a number it means "or more," as in 三十餘人 (sānshí yú rén) more than thirty people.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 餘 with 徐 (xú, slowly) or 除 (chú, to remove), which share the 余 part but have different left sides and different sounds. Also, in "or more" phrases the order is number then 餘, so write 十餘年 (shí yú nián), not 餘十年.
Common words with 餘
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 其餘 | qíyú | the rest; the others | HSK 4 |
| 業餘 | yèyú | in one's spare time; outside working hours | HSK 4 |
| 多餘 | duōyú | superfluous; unnecessary | HSK 7-9 |
| 餘地 | yúdì | margin; leeway | HSK 7-9 |
| 剩餘 | shèngyú | to remain; to be left over; what remains; what's left | HSK 7-9 |
| 餘額 | yú'é | balance (of an account, bill etc); surplus | HSK 7-9 |
| 餘生 | yúshēng | the remaining years of one's life; survival (after a disaster) | |
| 餘下 | yúxià | remaining | |
| 綽綽有餘 | chuòchuòyǒuyú | (idiom) more than enough | |
| 殘餘 | cányú | remnant; relic | |
| 不遺餘力 | bùyíyúlì | to spare no pains or effort (idiom); to do one's utmost | |
| 空餘 | kòngyú | free; vacant |
Questions about 餘
How many strokes are in 餘?
餘 is written with 15 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 餘 mean?
餘 (yú) means surplus, remainder, excess. A common word with it is 其余 (qíyú), meaning "the rest; the others".
How do you pronounce 餘?
餘 is pronounced yú, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 餘?
The radical of 餘 is 飠, which carries the idea of "food". Dictionaries list 餘 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 餘?
餘 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 余 and 馀, used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 余 the same as 餘?
In simplified Chinese, 余 replaces 餘 for meanings like surplus and remainder. But 余 also has its own old meaning, the formal first person pronoun "I," so in traditional texts 余 and 餘 are different words. In rare cases of possible confusion, mainland texts may keep 馀 as the simplified form of 餘.
How is 餘 used in math?
In division it means the remainder. For example, 十除以三得三餘一 (shí chú yǐ sān dé sān yú yī) means ten divided by three is three remainder one. The noun 餘數 (yúshù) means remainder.