yōu

superior

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components
亻 meaning component

  Meaning component

rén

  

person

is a component form of .

憂 sound component

  Sound component

yōu

  

sad

Evolution

優 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
優 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
優 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

() 

yōu

superior, excellent; actor; excellent; superior

Most common words with 優
Freq.
Word
Meaning

优秀

outstanding

优势

superiority

优雅

grace

excellent

优惠

privilege