要 yào want; essential
Made up of [西 xī west radical 146, 女 nǚ female; woman radical 38]Made with 9 strokes.
Ancient small seal form 
Related characters
Also uses 西 xī component: 票 piào (ticket)
Also uses 女 nǚ component: 矮 ǎi (low) 安 ān (peace) 妇 fù (woman) 姑 gū (paternal aunt) 好 hǎo (good) 婚 hūn (to marry) 姐 jiě (elder sister) 楼 lóu (multi-story building) 妈 mā (mother) 妹 mèi (younger sister) 奶 nǎi (milk) 如 rú (as) 始 shǐ (to begin) 她 tā (she) 妄 wàng (absurd) 姓 xìng (surname)
Sounds same
药 yào (medicine)Different tone
幺 yāo (youngest) 咬 yǎo (to bite)Pronunciation
Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net ➚ under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License
Stroke order for character 要, kindly provided under Wikimedia creative commons license ➚
Proverbs
人要脸,树要皮 rén yaò liǎn, shù yaò pí Reputation ('face') must be maintained at all costs也要马儿好,也要马儿不吃草 yě yaò mǎ ér haǒ, yě yaò mǎ ér bù chī caǒ To prosper you must make compromises, you can not have it all your own way
Phrases
我 们 要 两 杯 咖 啡 wǒ mén yào liǎng bēi kā fēi We want two cups of coffee你 好 我 要 买 一 张 票 nǐ hǎo wǒ yào mǎi yī zhāng piào Hello, I want to buy a ticket
你 要 去 那 儿 nǐ yào qù nà r Where do you want to go?
我 要 一 瓶 青 岛 啤 酒 wǒ yào yī píng qīng dǎo pí jiǔ I want a bottle of Qingdao beer
你 要 那 种 颜 色 nǐ yào nà zhǒng yán sè What color do you want?
还 要 青 菜 吗 hái yào qīng cài mǎ Are there any more vegetables?