Chinese Characters Starting with "Y start"

Every character has an origin. Discover the pictographs, myths, and history behind each Chinese character — with pinyin, stroke order, HSK level, and audio pronunciation.

This 3,000-year-old character freezes a judicial h

yuè

This six-stroke character isn’t just ‘to cut’

This 4-stroke character hides a Bronze Age scythe

This character looks icy (冫) but means fiery smel

yín

A 4-stroke fossil of classical Chinese thought: no

yuán

This 'yen' character isn't Chinese in origin — it

yǎn

This 'majestic' character hides a courtroom origin

yān

This 13-stroke character isn’t a word—it’s a wh

This six-stroke character began as a pictograph of

yáo

This character isn’t ancient — it’s a Ming-dyna

A deceptively simple character — just 'mouth' plu

yǎn

This 'supine' character began as a bronze-age draw

This character was invented in the 1970s solely to

Its right side evolved from a masked ritual figure

This 'yes' isn't spoken—it's carved in bronze, si

yǒng

This character’s invention horrified Confucius —

This elegant 'big' isn’t about size—it’s ancien

yòu

Born from ancient wine rituals, 侑 looks like a pe

This 'character' has zero strokes, zero historical

This 8-stroke character encodes ancient China’s e

yáng

This 'feign' character hides a sheep in plain sigh

This 'lost' character hides a vanished rabbit — i

This 'child' character isn’t ancient — it’s a d

This elegant 'yī' looks like a person leaning on

This 5-stroke character isn’t just 'strong' — it

This two-stroke character—亄—looks like a bent l

yāo

This three-stroke character — the smallest indepe

This 2-stroke character once depicted cosmic cross

Born as a pictograph of a forked tree branch, 丫 e

Though it means 'crow', 鸦 almost never stands alo

Born from a bird + drumstick pictograph, 雅 evolve

yǐn

This 'hidden' character began as a hillside refuge

yùn

This character began as a picture of steam rising

This 8-stroke character began as a picture of ferm

yáo

This character looks like a sage walking off the e

yuán

This ‘shaft’ character hides a royal pun: its to

This 'chassis' character evolved from ancient char

yǒng

This 'leap' character hides a warrior’s foot and

Its ancient form shows a person kneeling to speak

yáo

Originally 'speech woven with resonant sound,' thi