seclude, confine to a room, deep, profound, secluded, faint, dark, tranquil, calm
幽 centers on a state of being set apart from the ordinary: physically secluded, emotionally calm and profound, or perceptually faint and dark. The meanings all flow from the idea of something withdrawn from the bright, busy surface of things.
幽 is thought to combine 山 (mountain) with two 幺 (tiny, dark) elements, suggesting a deep, dark mountain recess. The exact historical development is uncertain, but the component arrangement consistently points to seclusion and obscurity.
Inside 幽, two tiny dark threads (幺) are tucked away within a mountain (山). Picture a hidden mountain valley where light barely reaches: it is secluded, deep, and profoundly calm.
For ユウ, imagine a secluded mountain hut where you (ユウ) go to find profound quiet. The English word 'you' sounds like ユウ and ties the reading to the kanji's core idea of withdrawal.
ghost; specter; spectre; apparition; phantom
confinement; imprisonment; incarceration
to confine to a room
mysterious profundity; quiet beauty; the subtle and profound; yūgen
ghost; revenant; spirit (of the dead); departed soul
hades; realm of the dead
deep ravine; glen
fragrance
lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata)
death
deep; dark
faint; fleeting
faint; fleeting
ethereal body
out-of-body experience
semidarkness; deep and strange; hades; the present and the other world; dark and light
hades; realm of the dead
beautiful and quiet scene
imprisonment
memorial ceremony held on the 100th day of a person's death