Example sentences
wǒ我yào要zhè这ge个。
I want this one.
nǐ你yào要bù不yào要yì一qǐ起qù去？
Want to come along?
The story behind the character
要
要 is a person with two hands on their waist. The ancient form draws it plainly, and Xu Shen's definition is 身中也: the middle of the body. That is the waist. Later the character got borrowed to mean want, need, have to, and people built a new one for the body part by adding 月 (flesh) to make 腰. So 要 once meant waist, and 腰 is the patch job.