Meaning of 玉
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- jade
How to use 玉
玉 (yù) means jade and often stands for something precious or pure. It also appears in everyday words like 玉米 (yùmǐ, corn), whose kernels look like little jade beads. Example: 她戴着一个玉手镯。(Tā dàizhe yí gè yù shǒuzhuó.) She is wearing a jade bracelet.
Think of 玉 as 王 (wáng, king) wearing a small jade pendant, the extra dot. A king's treasure is jade.
Common mistake: Learners often forget the dot and write 王 (wáng, king), or put the dot on the wrong side. In 玉 the dot sits at the lower right, between the bottom two horizontal strokes.
玉 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
玉 yù · jade · 5 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 玉.
| 玉米 | yùmǐ | corn; maize |
| 玉米饼 | yùmǐbǐng | corn cake; Mexican tortilla |
| 玉米片 | yùmǐpiàn | cornflakes; tortilla chips |
| 玉帝 | yùdì | the Jade Emperor |
Questions about 玉
What does 玉 mean?
玉 (yù) means "jade" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 玉?
玉 is made of 1 character: 玉 (5 strokes). That is 5 strokes in total.
Is 玉 an HSK word?
Yes. 玉 is on the HSK 4 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does the word for corn, 玉米, contain the character for jade?
玉米 (yùmǐ) literally means jade rice. The shiny, round kernels were compared to small pieces of jade, so the name stuck.
Who is 玉帝 (yùdì)?
玉帝 is the Jade Emperor, the ruler of heaven in Chinese folk religion and mythology. He often appears in stories like Journey to the West, where the Monkey King causes trouble in his palace.