About
妤 (yú) is a phono-semantic compound, formed by combining the semantic radical 女 (nǚ), indicating a woman or female associations, with the phonetic component 予 (yǔ), which provides its pronunciation. Its core meaning refers to physical beauty, elegance, or fairness, particularly as qualities of women. The character is most famously known as the second character in the title Jieyu (婕妤), a specific rank for imperial concubines in ancient Chinese courts. Today, its use remains largely confined to female titles or given names, consistently reflecting the female-oriented semantic of its radical.