Definition
余 (yú) has two main uses: as a verb meaning 'to have leftover' (more formal/literary than the everyday 剩余 shèng yú), and as a numeral meaning 'more than, over' placed after a number (e.g., 十余人 'more than ten people'). Unlike 剩余, 余 is rarely used alone in modern speech for the verb sense; it appears in fixed expressions or written Chinese.
verb
to have leftoverto remain(verb, math) to have a remainder of
numeral
more thanover (after a number)
Easily confused
- 合hélook-aliketo close
- 与yǔsound-alike(conjunction) and (formal, connecting nouns)
- 涂túlook-aliketo apply (paint, cream, etc.), to smear, to daub
- 于yúsound-alike(preposition) at, in, on (used in formal/literary contexts for time or place)
- 除chúlook-alike(verb) to remove; to eliminate
- 鱼yúsound-alikefish
- 雨yǔsound-alikerain
- 玉yùsound-alikejade (a precious stone, often culturally symbolic in Chinese contexts)
- 愈yùsound-alike(adverb) used in the pattern 愈…愈… to mean 'the more…the more…'
Examples
- 。Zhège yuè wǒ yú xià le yìxiē qián.I have some money left over this month.
- 余。Zhège chéngshì yǒu shí wàn yú rén.This city has over one hundred thousand people.
- 余。Qī chú yǐ èr yú yī.Seven divided by two leaves a remainder of one.
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