TraceHanzi

糗 meaning and stroke order

qiǔ

Dry rations; mushy, overcooked; embarrassing

16 strokesRadical 米
Strokes16
Pinyinqiǔ
ToneTone 3
Frequency#3,662
Printable worksheet

How to write 糗, stroke by stroke

16 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 糗

Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.

qiǔthird tone (dipping)
  1. dry rations (for a journey)
  2. (dialect) (of noodles etc) to become mush (from overcooking)
  3. (coll.) embarrassing
  4. embarrassment

How 糗 is built

Ideographic (compound meaning) character. Rice 米 that stinks 臭; 臭 also provides the pronunciation.

mǐuncooked rice+chòustench

Radical: 米 (rice), shared by 50 characters on this site.

How to remember 糗

Picture rice 米 (mǐ) that has gone stinky 臭 (chòu). Old travel rations or mushy overcooked noodles are not pleasant, and neither is an embarrassing moment.

In modern speech 糗 is mostly a casual word for something embarrassing, often in 糗事 (qiǔshì, an embarrassing incident) or 出糗 (chū qiǔ, to embarrass oneself). Example: 我今天在大家面前出糗了。(Wǒ jīntiān zài dàjiā miànqián chū qiǔ le.) I embarrassed myself in front of everyone today.

Common mistake: Learners sometimes read 糗 as chòu because of the 臭 component, but it is qiǔ with a third tone. Also do not confuse it with 臭 alone, which means smelly, not embarrassing.

糗 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

我wǒ一yī生shēng中zhōng从cóng没méi那nà么me糗qiǔ过guò。
I was never so humiliated in my life.
这zhè只zhǐ猫māo咪mī气qì场chǎng全quán开kāi，走zǒu著zhù猫māo步bù，相xiāng当dāng优yōu雅yǎ，然rán后hòu摔shuāi倒dǎo了le，真zhēn是shì糗qiǔ大dà了le。
The cat glided along, very refined, but ended up falling, which was very embarrassing.

Questions about 糗

How many strokes are in 糗?

糗 is written with 16 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.

What does 糗 mean?

糗 (qiǔ) means dry rations; mushy, overcooked; embarrassing.

How do you pronounce 糗?

糗 is pronounced qiǔ, in the third tone (dipping).

What is the radical of 糗?

The radical of 糗 is 米, which carries the idea of "rice". Dictionaries list 糗 under this radical.

Is 糗 too informal to use in writing?

Yes, the embarrassing sense is colloquial and common in chat, social media and casual talk. In formal writing you would use 尴尬 (gāngà) or 难堪 (nánkān) instead.

How do you say 'that's so embarrassing' with 糗?

You can say 好糗啊 (hǎo qiǔ a) or 太糗了 (tài qiǔ le). Both are natural, light ways to react to an awkward moment.