# 優 kindhearted/excel

(personleft) + 憂 (grieve) Same-ON
★★★★☆
17 strokes
DUPE JERK PN
JERK: by itself, it means nice, but in a JUKUGO, it means EXCEL, or, for some reason, ACTOR.

Also this kanji has the distinction of being a DOUBLE dupe: there's two やさしいs AND two すぐれるs!

## Onyomi

YUU |

## Mnemonic

| YOU are such a kindhearted person to grieve for the loss of my mom's cousin's great-aunt twice removed, whom you've never even met! In other words, a kindhearted PERSON often excels at grief.

## Kunyomi

( に or が ) ずぐ＊れる | to outdo, to be superior. ★★☆☆☆
やさ＊しい | warm-hearted. , emphasis on the personality, They make people feel comfortable and understand the feelings of others. Young people can use 優しい人 as kind of a put-down, like "He's just a 'nice guy.'" ★★★★★

## Jukugo

優先(ゆうせん) する | priority ★★★☆☆ 優 (kindhearted/excel) + 先 (earlier/ the tip) = 優先 (priority) priority (make it a priority: xxx優先されてる）
俳優(はいゆう) | actor ★★★☆☆ 俳 (actor) + 優 (kindhearted/excel) = 俳優 (actor)
優秀(ゆうしゅう) な | superior ★★☆☆☆ 優 (kindhearted/excel) + 秀 (excel) = 優秀 (superior) superior, excellent
男優(だんゆう) | actor ★★☆☆☆ 男 (man) + 優 (kindhearted/excel) = 男優 (actor)
女優(じょゆう) | actress ★★☆☆☆ 女 (woman) + 優 (kindhearted/excel) = 女優 (actress)

## Lookalikes

| Meaning | Hint | Radical
--- | --- | --- | ---
憂 | grieve | no person |
優 | kindhearted/excel | PERSON | 人

Without a kindhearted PERSON in your life, you'll grieve.

## Synonyms

classy or sophisticated 上品 洗練された 優雅な
kind 親切 優しい
nice 優しい 易しい
pleasant 快い 心地よい 親しい 優しい
surpass 優勢 優秀な 秀でる
to excel 優れる 勝れる