Han character 銪

銪 names europium in Chinese writing. Its Mandarin pronunciation is roughly “yoh” with a low-rising tone; Pinyin writes it yǒu. Simplified Chinese uses 铕. The left metal component 金 marks it as a metal, while 有 cues the sound. Japanese listings also give ユウロピウム as a reading for europium and list “large plow,” read おおすき, as a Japanese character sense.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Education noted in its 2024 entry that 銪 is absent from the Shuowen Jiezi, an early Chinese character dictionary. Spectral evidence for europium was reported in 1890; Eugène-Anatole Demarçay is credited with isolating it in 1901. A Shanghai journal published what is described as the earliest known Chinese periodic table in 1901.

What does 銪 mean when someone sends it?

Read it first as a chemistry or character-lookup reference. Chinese context points to europium. In Japanese, the subject may instead be europium read ユウロピウム or the dictionary-listed “large plow” sense, おおすき. If someone sends the character alone, ask for context before deciding which reading fits.