拥 is a versatile verb that commonly appears in compound words rather than on its own. Its core meanings cluster into three groups: (1) 'to embrace/hug' – 拥抱 (yōngbào) is the standard word for a hug; (2) 'to have/possess' – 拥有 (yōngyǒu) means 'to own/possess'; (3) 'to support/uphold' – 拥护 (yōnghù) means 'to support/endorse'. The literal sense of 'crowding around/surrounding' appears in expressions like 簇拥 (cùyōng, 'to crowd around') and 前呼后拥 (qián hū hòu yōng, 'with a large retinue'). In modern Chinese, 拥 almost always pairs with another character to form a disyllabic verb.