要

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Etymology

Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Large seal script	Small seal script

Pictogram (象形): a woman (女) with two hands pointing to her midsection.

Original meaning was "waist" (now 腰). The hands gradually shifted upwards; the 覀 in the modern form evolved from the hands and the woman's head.

Han character

要 (radical 146 西+3, 9 strokes, cangjie input 一田女 (MWV), four-corner 1040₄, composition ⿱覀女)

Derived characters

• 腰 覅

References

• KangXi: page 1128, character 16
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 34768
• Dae Jaweon: page 1597, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 4, page 2805, character 8
• Unihan data for U+8981

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Chinese

		-
simp. and trad.		要

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yāo (yao¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄠ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jiu¹
• Wu (WT Romanisation): iau (T1)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: yāo
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄠ
    • Wade-Giles: yao¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: iau
    • IPA ^(key): /i̯ɑʊ̯⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: jiu¹
    • Yale: yīu
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jiu¹
    • IPA ^(key): /jiːu̯⁵⁵/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • WT Romanisation: iau (T1)
    • IPA ^(key): /iɔ⁵³/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (要, reconstructed)
Character (要), Pronunciation 1/2
Initial: 影 (34) Final: 宵 Division: III			Openness: Open Tone: Level (Ø)			Fanqie: 於霄切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/ʔiᴇu/	/ʔi̯ɛu/	/ʔiɛu/	/ʔiɛu/	/ʔiaw/	/ĭɛu/	/ʔjæu/

Old Chinese pronunciation (要, reconstructed)
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character					No.					Phonetic component					Rime group					Rime subdivision					Corresponding MC rime					Old Chinese					Notes
要					14748					要					宵					2					要					/*qew/

Verb

要

1. ^† to demand; to ask; to request
   • 要求 (yāoqiú, "to request")
2. ^† to force; to coerce
   • 要挾／要挟 (yāoxié, "to threaten, to blackmail")
3. ^† Variant of 邀.

Compounds

Derived terms

• 要功 (yāogōng, "variant of 邀功")

• 要挾／要挟 (yāoxié, "to threaten, to blackmail")

• 要擊／要击 (yāojī, "to intercept, to ambush")

• 要暈／要晕 (yāoyūn, "confused, dazed")

• 要求 (yāoqiú, "to request")

• 要約／要约 (yāoyuè, "to restrict, offer, bid")

• 要買人心／要买人心 (yāomǎirénxīn, "variant of 邀買人心／邀买人心")

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (要):

• Japanese: 要 (よう, yō)
• Korean: 요 (要, yo)
• Vietnamese: yêu (要)

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yào (yao⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄧㄠˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): jiu³
• Hakka (Pha̍k-fa-sṳ): yêu
• Min Nan (POJ): iàu
• Wu (WT Romanisation): iau (T2)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: yào
    • Zhuyin: ㄧㄠˋ
    • Wade-Giles: yao⁴
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yaw
    • IPA ^(key): /i̯ɑʊ̯⁵¹/

    • (file)

• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: jiu³
    • Yale: yiu
    • Cantonese Pinyin: jiu³
    • IPA ^(key): /jiːu̯³³/
• Hakka
  • Romanisations:
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: yêu
    • IPA (Siyen, incl. Miaoli): /je̯u²⁴/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: iàu
    • Tâi-lô: iàu
    • IPA (Taipei): /iaʊ¹¹/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /iaʊ²¹/
• Wu
  • (Shanghainese)
    • WT Romanisation: iau (T2)
    • IPA ^(key): /iɔ³⁴/

Middle Chinese pronunciation (要, reconstructed)
Character (要), Pronunciation 2/2
Initial: 影 (34) Final: 宵 Division: III			Openness: Open Tone: Departing (H)			Fanqie: 於笑切
Zhengzhang Shangfang	Bernard Karlgren	Li Rong	Pan Wuyun	Edwin Pulleyblank	Wang Li	Shao Rongfen
/ʔiᴇuH/	/ʔi̯ɛuH/	/ʔiɛuH/	/ʔiɛuH/	/ʔiawH/	/ĭɛuH/	/ʔjæuH/

Old Chinese pronunciation (要, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character								Modern Beijing (Pinyin)								Middle Chinese								Old Chinese								English
要								yào								‹ ʔjiewH ›								/*[q]ew(k)-s/								important
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system: Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character					No.					Phonetic component					Rime group					Rime subdivision					Corresponding MC rime					Old Chinese					Notes
要					14752					要					宵					2					要					/*qews/

Verb

要

1. (Beginning Mandarin) to want; to wish; to need

   我要睡覺。 [MSC, trad.]

   我要睡觉。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ yào shuìjiào. [Pinyin]

   I want to sleep.

   你要不要喝茶？ [MSC, trad. and simp.]

   Nǐ yào bù yào hē chá? [Pinyin]

   Do you want some tea?

2. will; going to (future auxiliary)

   我要走了。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

   Wǒ yào zǒu le. [Pinyin]

   I am going to go.

   我怕我們要遲到了。 [MSC, trad.]

   我怕我们要迟到了。 [MSC, simp.]

   Wǒ pà wǒmen yào chí dào le. [Pinyin]

   I fear that we will be late.

3. may; must; don't (in a negative sentence), to have to

   不要喝酒。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

   Bùyào hē jiǔ. [Pinyin]

   Don't drink alcohol.

   你今天一定要去看病。 [MSC, trad. and simp.]

   Nǐ jīntiān yīdìng yào qù kànbìng. [Pinyin]

   You must go to the doctor today.

   你要等一會兒，我的老板現在正忙得不可開交。 [MSC, trad.]

   你要等一会儿，我的老板现在正忙得不可开交。 [MSC, simp.]

   Nǐ yào děng yī huìr, wǒ de lǎobǎn xiànzài zhèng máng dé bùkěkāijiāo. [Pinyin]

   You have to wait a moment. My boss is extremly busy now.

Adjective

要

1. vital, important
   • 重要
   • 主要

Conjunction

要

1. if, in case of

   要系腰帶，就用不著吊帶了。 [MSC, trad.]

   要系腰带，就用不著吊带了。 [MSC, simp.]

   Yào xì yāodài, jiù yòngbùzhù diàodài le. [Pinyin]

   You don't need braces if you're wearing a belt.

Compounds

Derived terms

• 主要 (zhǔyào, "main")

• 要好 (yàohǎo, "to be on good terms")

• 重要 (zhòngyào, "important")

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (要):

• Japanese: 要 (よう, yō)
• Korean: 요 (要, yo)
• Vietnamese: yếu (要)

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Japanese

See also 要する

Kanji

要

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. need, necessity, essential

Readings

• On: よう (yō), from えう (yeu)
• Kun: いる (iru), もとめる (motomeru), かなめ (kaname), ぬま (numa [archaic]), ぬみ (numi [archaic])

Compounds

• 重要
• 要塞 (ようさい, yōsai)

Etymology 1

Noun

要 (hiragana よう, romaji yō)

1. cornerstone
2. requirement

Etymology 2

Noun

要 (hiragana かなめ, romaji kaname)

1. pivot, cornerstone, keystone

Proper noun

要 (hiragana かなめ, romaji Kaname)

1. A male given name

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Korean

Hanja

要 (yo) (hangeul 요, McCune-Reischauer yo, Yale yo)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

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Vietnamese

Han character

要 (yếu, éo, eo, yêu)

1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.