亏 meaning in English

kuī

to lose (money); to have a deficit; to be deficient

HSK 5verbTraditional 虧3 strokes

Meaning of 亏

Definitions from CC-CEDICT.

kuī

to lose (money); to have a deficit
to be deficient
to treat unfairly
luckily; fortunately; thanks to
(used to introduce an ironic remark about sb who has fallen short of expectations)

How to use 亏

亏 (kuī) is common in money talk, as in 亏本 (kuīběn) and 亏损 (kuīsǔn), and in everyday phrases like 吃亏 (chīkuī), to get the short end of the stick. It also means "thanks to" or "luckily", often in 多亏 (duōkuī) and 幸亏 (xìngkuī). Example: 幸亏你来了。(Xìngkuī nǐ lái le.) Luckily you came.

Picture 亏 (kuī) as two flat lines on top, like a full stack of money, with a hook underneath that drains it away. What was full now comes up short, so you lose out.

Common mistake: Learners often confuse 亏 (kuī) with 于 (yú) or 亐-like shapes. 亏 ends with a hooked stroke that bends right and then down, while 于 has a straight vertical with a hook at the bottom. Also keep the first tone. It is kuī, not kuì.

亏 in example sentences

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

多duō亏kuī了le顺shùn风fēng，我wǒ们men很hěn快kuài就jiù到dào了le那nà个ge小xiǎo岛dǎo。

Thanks to the favorable wind, we soon reached the island.

多duō亏kuī了le冷lěng夏xià，啤pí酒jiǔ卖mài的de不bù好hǎo。

Thanks to a cold summer, beer has sold poorly.

多duō亏kuī了le你nǐ。

It's thanks to you.

多duō亏kuī了le你nǐ的de推tuī荐jiàn，汤tāng姆mǔ得dé到dào了le那nà份fèn工gōng作zuò。

Thanks to your recommendation, Tom got that job.

那nà家jiā公gōng司sī去qù年nián亏kuī损sǔn了le10亿yì日rì元yuán。

The company suffered a loss of one billion yen last year.

Stroke order for each character

Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.

亏 kuī · to lose · 3 strokes

Related words

Words that share a character with 亏.

多亏	duōkuī	thanks to; luckily
幸亏	xìngkuī	fortunately; luckily
吃亏	chīkuī	to suffer losses; to come to grief
亏损	kuīsǔn	deficit; (financial) loss
亏本	kuīběn	to make a loss
亏欠	kuīqiàn	to have a deficit; to be in the red; to owe
亏待	kuīdài	to treat sb unfairly

Questions about 亏

What does 亏 mean?

亏 (kuī) means "to lose (money); to have a deficit; to be deficient" and is used as a verb.

How do you write 亏?

亏 is made of 1 character: 亏 (3 strokes). That is 3 strokes in total.

Is 亏 an HSK word?

Yes. 亏 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.

How is 亏 written in traditional Chinese?

In traditional characters, 亏 is written 虧.

How is 亏 used to make an ironic remark?

Use 亏 + person + 还 + statement to point out that someone fell short of what you would expect. For example, 亏你还是老师。(Kuī nǐ hái shì lǎoshī.) And you call yourself a teacher.

What is the difference between 多亏 and 幸亏?

Both mean "luckily", but 多亏 (duōkuī) usually credits a person or thing, as in 多亏你的帮助 (thanks to your help). 幸亏 (xìngkuī) stresses good luck that avoided a bad result, as in 幸亏没下雨 (luckily it did not rain).