语/語 yǔ — language, tongue; speech, words; a saying

Pinyin

• yǔ (third tone, dipping)

language, tongue; speech, words; a saying

Character breakdown

• 讠meaning partno entry yetThe speech radical: sound rising out of a mouth.
• 吾sound partno entry yet吾 wú for the sound; on its own it is the classical pronoun "I".

Mnemonic

Speech 讠 with 吾 wú for the sound. It is the bookish half of the pair: 语 is the language as a system — 汉语, 英语, 语法, 语言 — while 话 is language as it comes out of a mouth, 说话, 电话. Where the two overlap, 语 sounds written and 话 sounds spoken.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.

Words containing 语

• 汉语/漢語Hànyǔ (fourth tone, falling)Chinese (the language)
• 语言/語言yǔ (third tone, dipping) yán (second tone, rising)language
• 英语/英語Yīng (first tone, high and level) yǔ (third tone, dipping)English (language)
• 成语/成語chéngyǔ (second tone, rising)chengyu, set phrase (usually four characters)
• 语气/語氣yǔ (third tone, dipping) qì (fourth tone, falling)tone
• 语音/語音yǔ (third tone, dipping) yīn (first tone, high and level)speech sounds
• 言语/言語yán (second tone, rising) yǔ (third tone, dipping)words
• 话语/話語huà (fourth tone, falling) yǔ (third tone, dipping)words
• 法语/法語Fǎ (third tone, dipping) yǔ (third tone, dipping)French (language)
• 标语/標語biāo (first tone, high and level) yǔ (third tone, dipping)written slogan
• 词语/詞語cí (second tone, rising) yǔ (third tone, dipping)word (general term including monosyllables through to short phrases)
• 日语/日語Rì (fourth tone, falling) yǔ (third tone, dipping)Japanese language
• 外语/外語wài (fourth tone, falling) yǔ (third tone, dipping)foreign language
• 华语/華語Huá (second tone, rising) yǔ (third tone, dipping)Chinese language
• 语法/語法yǔ (third tone, dipping) fǎ (third tone, dipping)grammar
• 自言自语/自言自語zì (fourth tone, falling) yán (second tone, rising) zì (fourth tone, falling) yǔ (third tone, dipping)to talk to oneself
• 俄语/俄語É (neutral tone) yǔ (third tone, dipping)Russian (language)
• 西班牙语/西班牙語Xī (first tone, high and level) bān (first tone, high and level) yá (second tone, rising) yǔ (third tone, dipping)Spanish language
• 口语/口語kǒu (third tone, dipping) yǔ (third tone, dipping)colloquial speech
• 母语/母語mǔ (third tone, dipping) yǔ (third tone, dipping)native language
• 俗语/俗語sú (second tone, rising) yǔ (third tone, dipping)common saying
• 谜语/謎語mí (second tone, rising) yǔ (third tone, dipping)riddle
• 阿拉伯语/阿拉伯語Ā (neutral tone) lā (first tone, high and level) bó (second tone, rising) yǔ (third tone, dipping)Arabic (language)
• 欢声笑语/歡聲笑語huān (first tone, high and level) shēng (first tone, high and level) xiào (fourth tone, falling) yǔ (third tone, dipping)cheers and laughter

Radical 言 — other characters

• 说/說shuō (first tone, high and level)to speak, to say, to talk; to explain; to tell off (colloquial)
• 认/認rèn (fourth tone, falling)to recognise, to identify; to admit, to acknowledge; to accept as inevitable
• 让/讓ràng (fourth tone, falling)to let, to allow; to make or cause someone to do something; to yield, to give way, to give up a seat
• 记/記jì (fourth tone, falling)to record, to write down; to remember, to bear in mind; a note, an account; a mark
• 话/話huà (fourth tone, falling)speech, words, what is said; a language or dialect; to talk about
• 识/識shí (second tone, rising) zhì (fourth tone, falling)to know, to recognise; knowledge; (zhì) to record, an inscription
• 请/請qǐng (third tone, dipping)please; to ask, to request; to invite; to treat someone (to a meal)
• 读/讀dú (second tone, rising)to read; to read aloud; to study, to attend school
• 谢/謝xiè (fourth tone, falling)to thank; thanks; (of flowers) to wither, to fade; Xie, a common surname