liú

to leave (a message etc)

to retain; to stay; to remain; to keep; to preserve; old variant of 留[liu2]

sound (卯) + field (田) = stay and keep

卯 primarily contributes the sound liú here; 田 (field) anchors the meaning — to stay and tend the land, to keep what you cultivate. The image of remaining rooted to your plot captures the sense of retention.

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A traditional earthly branch characterPhonetic
FieldSemantic

请把你的电话号码给我。

qǐng bǎ nǐ de diàn huà hào mǎ liú gěi wǒ。

Please leave your phone number with me.

他决定在家乡,照顾年老的父母。

tā jué dìng liú zài jiā xiāng,zhào gù nián lǎo de fù mǔ。

He decided to stay in his hometown to take care of his aging parents.

Words with 留

逗留

dòu liú

to stay for a while; to sojourn

遗留

yí liú

to leave behind

阻留

zǔ liú

to intercept

阿留申群岛

ā liú shēn qún dǎo

Aleutian Islands (trailing 2250 km southwest of Alaska almost down to Kamtchatka)

鸡犬不留

jī quǎn bù liú

lit. not even chickens and dogs are spared (idiom)

巩留

gǒng liú

Gongliu County or Toqquztara nahiyisi in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture 伊犁哈薩克自治州|伊犁哈萨克自治州[Yi1 li2 Ha1 sa4 ke4 Zi4 zhi4 zhou1], Xinjiang

巩留县

gǒng liú xiàn

Gongliu County or Toqquztara nahiyisi in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture 伊犁哈薩克自治州|伊犁哈萨克自治州[Yi1 li2 Ha1 sa4 ke4 Zi4 zhi4 zhou1], Xinjiang

余留

yú liú

remainder

余留事务

yú liú shì wù

unfinished business

马可·奥勒留

mǎ kě · ào lēi liú

Marcus Aurelius (121-180), Roman Emperor

驻留

zhù liú

to stay

高桥留美子

gāo qiáo liú měi zǐ

Takahashi Rumiko, Japanese manga artist

More characters with 卯