Meta:

  1. 要 is the 26th most frequent character.
  2. has 2 dictionary entries.
  3. appears as a character in 77 words.
  4. appears as a component in 2 characters.

Decomposition:

Once :
=> ,
Radical :
=> (west), (woman)
Graphical :
=> , , , 丿

Pinyin & Meaning:

  1. yao1 - to demand/to request/to coerce
  2. yao4 - important/vital/to want/will/going to (as future auxiliary)/may/must/(used in a comparison) must be/probably

Pronunciation Clues:

  1. Pronunciation clue for 要 (yao1): The component 覀 is pronounced as 'ya2'. It has the same pinyin initial.
  2. Pronunciation clue for 要 (yao4): The component 覀 is pronounced as 'ya2'. It has the same pinyin initial.

Example Words:

High Frequency

 

Medium Frequency

主要 
只要 
必要 
想要 
要是 
要求 
要么 (要麼)
重要 
需要 

Appears In:

also appears in:
Decomposition Levels:
Level 1: Only divided once. So only two components.
Level 2: Radical Decomposition. The character gets decomposed into its lowest radical components. For the complete list visit the Radical wikipedia page.
Level 3: Graphical Decomposition. Shows all the strokes & lowest level of components that make up the character.
If you see questions marks or too many "block" characters, especially when it comes to level 3 decomposition you might need the correct font.