yù

jade

How it’s built

Pictograph of a ritual object made out of several pieces of jade joined together by a string. A dot was later added to 玉 to distinguish it from 王 (king).

Through the ages

Oracle bone script

Bronze script

Appears in

Characters that use 玉 as a component, most common first.

国guócountry 全quánwhole 宝bǎotreasure 弄nòngto do 璧bìa jade annulus 玺xǐimperial signet 璽xǐimperial signet