(xǔ) - to allow, to permit; perhaps (in 也许, 或许, 许多) in Mandarin
xǔTraditional: 許
#5050 of 5,000 Core 5000
Translation
to allow, to permit; perhaps (in 也许, 或许, 许多)
Word origin
A phono-semantic compound: the speech radical 言 signals an utterance of permission, while 午 (wǔ) supplies the sound, giving the sense to allow or to permit.
- Origin
- phono-semantic
- Root
- 言 (speech radical) + 午 (wǔ, phonetic)
Stroke order
许
Examples
。
Perhaps he'll come tomorrow.
。
There are many people here.
。
Maybe we should wait a bit longer.
。
The teacher does not allow us to talk.
。
Mum allowed me to go out and play.
许 (xǔ) means to allow or to permit, and as a hedging adverb-component, perhaps. It heads 也许 and 或许 (both meaning perhaps), and 许多 (many).
Appears in 5 words
Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 许.
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