What does 有 mean in Chinese?

有 (yǒu) means "to have" in Chinese. The new HSK exam expects you to recognise it at HSK 1.

How do you write 有?

有 is written with 6 strokes, starting from the 月 (meat) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 有?

The radical of 有 is 月 (meat, Kangxi radical #130). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 服, 能, 期, 望.

How many strokes does 有 have?

The Chinese character 有 has 6 strokes.

What HSK level is 有?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 有 is a character to recognise at HSK 1 and to write by hand at HSK 2 (the handwriting list HSK 1 and 2 share).

有 (yǒu): Meaning, Stroke Order, Radical & Examples

有

yǒu

to have

HSK 1 character 6 strokes Radical: 月 (meat)

Quick Answer

有 (yǒu) means "to have" with 6 strokes, radical 月 (meat), HSK 1 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 有 →Animated stroke-order for 有 →

Pronunciation

yǒu

Meaning

Primary: to have

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

Oracle-bone forms show a right hand (又) holding a piece of meat (the 月/肉 component below). The composition depicts possession in the most literal sense: a hand grasping flesh, one of the most valuable things a person could own in Shang society.

Form evolution

The oracle-bone hand-plus-meat shape stayed stable through bronze inscriptions. In seal script the hand became the stylised 𠂇 stroke on top and the meat was regularised as 月. Clerical script flattened the curves into the clean two-part 有 we see today, with the 月 component now visually indistinguishable from 月 'moon' despite the different origin.

How the meaning evolved

The original sense was physical possession, which broadened early to abstract 'to have' and 'there exists'. By the Warring States period 有 was already functioning as the general existential verb it is in modern Mandarin, and it also served as a prefix for tribal and dynasty names (有夏, 有苗).

Cultural note

The 月 inside 有 is one of the classic false friends of Chinese paleography: it looks like 'moon' but is really 肉 'flesh', the same component hiding inside 服, 朋, 肝, and dozens of body-part characters.

Mnemonic

A hand reaching for the moon — to have ambition

Decomposition

有=𠂇component+月radical

Breaking a character into its components makes it far easier to recall. Each component above links to its own detail page.

Basic info

Pinyin	yǒu
Meanings	to have
Stroke count	6 strokes
Radical	月 (#130: meat)
New HSK exam	Recognise at HSK 1, write by hand at HSK 1-2
Frequency	#221 most common

Example sentences

我有一只猫。
Wǒ yǒu yī zhī māo.
I have a cat.
From 有 (HSK 1)
我没有去。
Wǒ méiyǒu qù.
I didn't go.
From 没有 (HSK 1)
他很有名。
Tā hěn yǒumíng.
He is very famous.
From 有名 (HSK 3)

Words containing 有

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
有	yǒu	to have	HSK 1
没有	méiyǒu	did not	HSK 1
只有	zhǐyǒu	only (if)	HSK 3
有名	yǒumíng	Famous	HSK 3
所有	suǒyǒu	All	HSK 4
有趣	yǒuqù	interesting	HSK 4
有利	yǒulì	favourable, beneficial	HSK 5
富有	fùyǒu	rich, wealthy	HSK 5