勇 · yǒng
勇 · yǒng
Character · Power
What it means
Courage — and specifically the part of it that carries a weapon, since the character puts 力 under 甬.
勇：而且是带着兵器的那一部分勇气——因为「力」在「甬」下面。
Where the character comes from
勇 is the character that makes courage physical. Its lower half is literally force applied to something, which is why the word never entirely leaves the body even when the sentence is about nerve.
甬 (a person wading up a slope) over 力 (force, also a ploughshare). The gloss in the Shuowen is simply 力.
- Official historyShuowen Jiezi力部
How it gets misread
永 (eternity) → 勇 (courage)
The top halves are the same in simplified form. 勇 has 力 underneath; 永 ends in a sweeping stroke.
涌 (surge) → 勇
Same top half. The water radical on 涌 is the give-away.
Before you ink
A single character with a clear internal split — top half lighter, 力 heavy at the base. The balance is what makes it read well at small size.
勇 and 涌 (surge, as in a wave) share a top half in simplified form. 勇 has 力 beneath; 涌 has the water radical on the left.