優

Phono-semantic compound:

人 (인, “person”) — semantic, indicating relation to people.

憂 (우, “sorrow, concern”) — phonetic, providing the sound 우.

Originally related to people with capacity and refinement, later extended to excellence, superiority, and gentleness, and eventually specialized in compounds like 俳優 (“actor”).

우수(優秀) — excellence, superiority

우열(優劣) — superiority and inferiority

배우(俳優) — actor, performer

우대(優待) — favorable treatment, preference

우연(優然) — graceful, elegant

Classical / Confucian usage:

優禮 (우례) — “show abundant courtesy,” especially toward scholars or elders.

優游 (우유) — “leisurely and composed,” a quality admired in Confucian self-cultivation.

優人 (우인) — a term for actors or jesters in ancient China, showing the semantic shift to “performer.”

優厚 (우후) — generous, abundant (often of kindness, reward, or treatment).

In the Confucian Analects (論語) and later texts, 優 often appears in the sense of leisurely dignity, refined abundance, or generous treatment.