How to Write 谤 (bàng) — Meaning “to slander; to defame”

Imagine someone standing beside you (旁) and saying (讠) bad things about you behind your back. The speech radical 讠 plus the side 旁 creates a picture of 'speaking from the side,' which is exactly what slandering is.

The left radical 讠 is written with two strokes: first a dot, then a horizontal stroke that curves up at the end, like a hook. The right part 旁 has 10 strokes; pay attention to the top 立 (standing) and the bottom 冖 (cover) plus 方 (square) — make sure the 方 is not too wide and the whole character stays balanced.

谤 (bàng, to slander) uses 旁 on the right, meaning 'side,' hinting at indirect speech. 请 (qǐng, to request) uses 青 (qīng, green/clear) on the right, and its meaning involves polite asking. 诸 (zhū, all/many) uses 者 (zhě, person/that) on the right, and it is a grammatical particle. The right-side component is the key visual difference.

谤 is mostly used in formal or literary contexts to mean slander or defamation, often appearing in words like 诽谤 (fěi bàng, to slander) and 毁谤 (huǐ bàng, to defame). It is commonly found in legal or news language about reputation damage, and using it carries a serious tone. It is not used in everyday casual conversation.

Common words containing 谤 include: 诽谤 (fěi bàng) — To slander; to libel; 毁谤 (huǐ bàng) — To slander; to defame.; 谤议 (bàng yì) — to criticize or defame.