Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Han character

要 (radical 146 西+3, 9 strokes, cangjie input 一田女 (MWV), four-corner 1040₄, composition ⿱覀女)

Derived characters

• 腰 覅

References

• KangXi: page 1128, character 16
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 34768
• Dae Jaweon: page 1597, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2805, character 8
• Unihan data for U+8981

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 要
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Pictogram (象形) : a woman (女) with two hands pointing to her midsection.

Original meaning was “waist” (now 腰 (OC *qew)). The hands gradually shifted upwards; the 覀 in the modern form evolved from the hands and the woman's head.

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

要

1. ^† to demand; to ask; to request

   要求  ―  yāoqiú  ―  to request

2. ^† to force; to coerce

   要挾 / 要挟  ―  yāoxié  ―  to threaten, to blackmail

3. ^† to promise

   要約 / 要约  ―  yāoyuē  ―  to restrict, to agree to a contract/offer/bid

4. ^† to block; to intercept

   要擊 / 要击  ―  yāojī  ―  to intercept, to ambush

5. ^†Alternative form of 邀 (yāo).
6. ^†Alternative form of 腰 (yāo, “waist”).
7. ^†contract of alliance

   久要  ―  jiǔyāo  ―  former contract

8. A surname​.

Descendants

Compounds

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

要

1. to want; to wish; to need

   我要睡覺。 / 我要睡觉。  ―  Wǒ yào shuìjiào.  ―  I want to sleep.

   • 你要不要喝茶？  ―  Nǐ yào bù yào hē chá?  ―  Do you want some tea?
2. will; going to (future auxiliary)

   我要走了。  ―  Wǒ yào zǒu le.  ―  I am going to go.

   • 我怕我們要遲到了。 [MSC, trad.]
     我怕我们要迟到了。 [MSC, simp.]

     Wǒ pà wǒmen yào chídào le. [Pinyin]

     I fear that we will be late.

3. about to
   • 出便咁黑，又好似要落雨噉。 [Cantonese, trad. and simp.]

     Ceot¹ bin⁶ gam³ haak¹, jau⁶ hou² ci⁵jiu³ lok⁶ jyu⁵ gam². [Jyutping]

     It looks like it's going to rain outside.

4. should; to must; to have to

   不要喝酒。  ―  Bùyào hē jiǔ.  ―  Don't drink alcohol.

   • 你今天一定要去看病。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

     Nǐ jīntiān yīdìng yào qù kànbìng. [Pinyin]

     You must go to the doctor today.

   • 你要等一會兒，我的老闆現在正忙得不可開交。 [MSC, trad.]
     你要等一会儿，我的老板现在正忙得不可开交。 [MSC, simp.]

     Nǐ yào děng yīhuìr, wǒ de lǎopǎn xiànzài zhèng máng de bùkěkāijiāo. [Pinyin]

     You have to wait a moment. My boss is extremely busy now.

5. vital; important

   重要  ―  zhòngyào  ―  important

   主要  ―  zhǔyào  ―  main

6. if; in case of
   • 要繫腰帶，就用不著吊帶了。 [MSC, trad.]
     要系腰带，就用不着吊带了。 [MSC, simp.]

     Yào jì yāodài, jiù yòngbùzháo diàodài le. [Pinyin]

     You don't need braces if you're wearing a belt.

Synonyms

Descendants

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. need, necessity, essential

Readings

• Goon: よう (yō), (historical) えう (eu)
• Kan’on: よう (yō), (historical) えう (eu)
• Kun: いる (要る, iru), かなめ (kaname), かのめ (kanome), ぬま (numa [archaic]), ぬみ (numi [archaic])

Compounds

• 重要 (じゅうよう) ‎(jūyō)
• 要塞 (ようさい) ‎(yōsai)

Etymology 1

Noun

要 ‎(hiragana よう, romaji yō)

1. cornerstone
2. requirement

Etymology 2

Noun

要 ‎(hiragana かなめ, romaji kaname)

1. pivot, cornerstone, keystone

Proper noun

要 ‎(hiragana かなめ, romaji Kaname)

1. A male given name

Korean

Hanja

要 • ‎(yo) (hangeul 요, McCune-Reischauer yo, Yale yo)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

要 (yếu, éo, eo, yêu)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.