游 meaning in English

yóu

to swim; variant of 遊|游[you2]

HSK 3verb12 strokes

Meaning of 游

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

yóu

to swim
variant of 遊|游[you2]

Yóu

surname You

yóu

to walk
to tour
to roam
to travel

How to use 游

游 rarely stands alone in modern speech; it usually appears in words like 游泳 (yóuyǒng, to swim), 旅游 (lǚyóu, to travel) and 游戏 (yóuxì, game). Example: 我们周末去旅游。(Wǒmen zhōumò qù lǚyóu.) We are going on a trip this weekend.

游 has the water radical 氵 on the left, so think of a person floating along in water. Swimming and wandering both mean drifting from place to place, which covers its two main meanings.

Common mistake: Learners often mix up 游 (yóu) with 旅 (lǚ) when writing 旅游, or forget the water radical and write the left side wrong. Also keep the second tone: yóu, not yǒu like 有.

游 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

你nǐ在zài计jì划huà什shén么me出chū游yóu吗ma？

What trips are you planning?

你nǐ想xiǎng不bù想xiǎng一yì起qǐ打dǎ游yóu戏xì？

Do you want to play video games together?

我wǒ爸bà爸bà给gěi我wǒ了le个gè游yóu戏xì。

My father gave me a game.

我wǒ没méi时shí间jiān跟gēn你nǐ玩wán游yóu戏xì。

I don't have time to play games with you.

几jǐ十shí个gè年nián轻qīng人rén参shēn加jiā了le示shì威wēi游yóu行xíng。

Dozens of young people attended the demonstration.

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

游 yóu · to swim · 12 strokes

Related words

Words that share a character with 游.

旅游	lǚyóu	trip; journey
游客	yóukè	traveler; tourist; (online gaming) guest player
游戏	yóuxì	game (CL:場\|场[chang3]); to play
游泳	yóuyǒng	swimming; to swim
导游	dǎoyóu	tour guide; guidebook
游泳池	yóuyǒngchí	swimming pool
游行	yóuxíng	to march; to parade; to demonstrate; procession; march; demonstration
游戏机	yóuxìjī	video game machine; video game console
游玩	yóuwán	to amuse oneself; to have fun
游人	yóurén	a tourist
漫游	mànyóu	to travel around; to roam
上游	shàngyóu	upper reaches (of a river); upper level

Questions about 游

What does 游 mean?

游 (yóu) means "to swim; variant of 遊|游[you2]" and is used as a verb.

How do you write 游?

游 is made of 1 character: 游 (12 strokes). That is 12 strokes in total.

Is 游 an HSK word?

Yes. 游 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

What is the difference between 游 and 遊?

In older texts, 遊 was used for traveling and roaming, while 游 was used for swimming. Simplified Chinese uses 游 for both meanings.

Can I say 我游 to mean I swim?

It sounds incomplete on its own. Say 我游泳 (wǒ yóuyǒng) or use 游 with a distance or direction, as in 游了一千米 (yóu le yì qiān mǐ, swam 1000 meters).