有 (yǒu)

Etymology

Depicts a hand (又) holding meat (肉). In Oracle script this character was written the same as the phonetically similar 又, but later the 肉 component was added to distinguish them.

Shuowen Jiezi

《說文》：“有，不宜有也。《春秋傳》曰：‘日月有食之。’从月，又聲。”

Components

• 又 (sound, iconic)
• 肉 (iconic) — Deceptively similar but unrelated to the character for moon (月).

Example sentences

1. 有！ — Here!
2. 没有。 — Not in there.
3. 有吗？ — Is that so?
4. 我有空。 — I'm free.
5. 有人吗？ — Is anybody here?

View all 50 example sentences for 有 →