秽 meaning and stroke order
Dirty, unclean; immoral, obscene
How to write 秽, stroke by stroke
11 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 秽
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (bound form) dirty; filthy
How 秽 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Grain.
禾 gives the meaning and 岁 hints at the sound.
Radical: 禾 (cereal), shared by 66 characters on this site.
How to remember 秽
秽 is pictophonetic: 禾 (grain) on the left gives the meaning area, and 岁 (suì) on the right hints at the sound. Picture a grain field left to rot for years (岁), full of weeds and filth, and you have something dirty.
秽 is a bound form, so it almost never stands alone. It appears in formal or literary words like 污秽 (wūhuì, filth) and 淫秽 (yínhuì, obscene), often in legal or news language. Example: 禁止传播淫秽内容。(Jìnzhǐ chuánbō yínhuì nèiróng.) Spreading obscene content is prohibited.
Common mistake: Learners often read 秽 as suì because of the phonetic part 岁, but the correct reading is huì with a fourth tone. Also do not confuse it with 秒 (miǎo, second), which shares the 禾 side.
Common words with 秽
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 污秽 | wūhuì | (literary) dirty; filthy; (literary) dirt; filth | HSK 7-9 |
| 淫秽 | yínhuì | obscene; indecent; bawdy |
秽 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 秽
How many strokes are in 秽?
秽 is written with 11 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 秽 mean?
秽 (huì) means dirty, unclean; immoral, obscene. A common word with it is 污秽 (wūhuì), meaning "(literary) dirty; filthy; (literary) dirt; filth".
How do you pronounce 秽?
秽 is pronounced huì, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 秽?
The radical of 秽 is 禾, which carries the idea of "cereal". Dictionaries list 秽 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 秽?
The traditional form of 秽 is 穢. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 秽 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 秽 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 秽 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Can I use 秽 to say my room is dirty?
No, that would sound strange. In everyday speech use 脏 (zāng), as in 房间很脏 (fángjiān hěn zāng). 秽 belongs to formal, literary, or moral contexts.
What does 自惭形秽 mean?
自惭形秽 (zì cán xíng huì) is an idiom meaning to feel inferior or ashamed of oneself in comparison with others. Here 秽 means unworthy or unsightly rather than physically dirty.