多余
duōyū · HSK 7
unnecessary
🗑️ duo = many, yu = extra — too many extras means redundant
多 means many/much, 余 means remaining/surplus. Put them together: when there is much remaining, it is superfluous. Sounds like 'do you' need all that extra stuff? No — its redundant.
多 — two 夕 (evening) stacked
多 originally depicted two pieces of meat (夕, a variant of 肉) stacked together, suggesting abundance. Over time it was reanalyzed as two 'evenings' piled up — many evenings meaning many days, hence 'many, much'. The doubling itself conveys quantity.
余 — roof 亼 + wooden post/pillar
Originally a pictograph of a simple thatched shelter or hut supported by a central post, 余 meant 'lodging' or 'temporary dwelling.' It was later borrowed phonetically to write the first-person pronoun 'I/me,' which became its dominant meaning. The 'surplus/remainder' sense developed through its use as a loan for 餘.