HSK 5 · Verbs

犹豫 yóuyù “to hesitate” in Chinese

Traditional 猶豫

What 犹豫 means

  1. to hesitate

How to say 犹豫

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale犹yóu2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale豫yù4th tone, falling

犹豫 in a sentence

  1. 不要犹豫去问问题。

    Búyào yóuyù qù wèn wèntí.

    Don’t hesitate to ask questions.

    Sentence #834365 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 我犹豫了一会，不知道走哪条路才好。

    Wǒ yóuyù le yíhuì, bù zhīdao zǒu nǎ tiáo lù cái hǎo.

    I hesitated for a moment, not sure which road to take.

    Sentence #498461 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 他毫不犹豫地把自己的车卖了。

    Tā háobù yóuyù de bǎ zìjǐ de chē mài le.

    Without a moment’s hesitation, he sold his own car.

    Sentence #335122 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 犹豫 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 犹 (yóu) with each of its parts in a different colour
犹yóuas if
  • 犭dog form of 犬 · quǎnMeaning part
  • 尤especially · yóuSound part

犭 hints at the meaning (dog); 尤 (yóu) hints at the sound. Compare it with yóu.

The character 豫 (yù) with each of its parts in a different colour
豫yùhappy
  • 予to give · yúSound part
  • 象elephant · xiàngMeaning part

象 hints at the meaning (elephant); 予 (yú) hints at the sound. Compare it with yù.

How to write 犹豫

犹 7 strokes · 豫 15 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

犹豫 (yóuyù) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 犹豫 (yóuyù). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 犹豫

Words with 犹

犹如yóurú · just like

More words: Thinking & Talking

询问xúnwèn · to inquire演讲yǎnjiǎng · speech疑问yíwèn · question议论yìlùn · to comment赞成zànchéng · to approve赞美zànměi · to admire责备zébèi · to blame争论zhēnglùn · to argue

FAQs

犹豫 (yóuyù) means “to hesitate”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it yóuyù: yóu with a 2nd tone, then yù with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 犹豫 is written 猶豫. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type youyu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 犹豫 from the suggestions. Typing youyu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
犹豫 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.