How to Write 瞅 (chǒu) — Meaning “To look”

Imagine it is autumn (秋) and you use your eye (目) to look closely at the falling leaves. The phrase 'eye in autumn' can help you recall that 瞅 means 'to look' or 'to peek.'

Write the left radical 目 tall and narrow, then the right part 秋 with 禾 (grain) on top and 火 (fire) below. A common mistake is making the 目 too wide or misplacing the 禾 and 火 strokes in 秋. The total is 14 strokes: 5 for 目 and 9 for 秋.

瞅 is a casual word for 'look' used mainly in northern Chinese, while 睃 (suō) means to glance sideways or squint, and 睇 (dì) is a Cantonese term for 'look' rarely used in standard Mandarin. Visually, 睃 has 目 + 夋 and 睇 has 目 + 弟, so they look different from 瞅's 目 + 秋.

瞅 is an informal, colloquial character common in everyday northern Chinese speech, often in phrases like 瞅一眼 (take a quick look) or 瞅瞅 (have a look). It is not used in formal writing or HSK exams, so you will hear it in casual conversation but rarely see it in textbooks.

Common words containing 瞅 include: 瞅一眼 (chǒu yī yǎn) — To take a look; 瞅见 (chǒu jiàn) — To catch sight of; 瞅瞅 (chǒu chǒu) — To have a look.