How to Write 龊 (chuò) — Meaning “dirty; mean; narrow-minded”

Picture a person who has dirty teeth (齿) and dirty feet (足) — this combination makes them look mean and narrow-minded. The image of both teeth and feet being unclean helps you recall that 龊 is associated with dirtiness and low character.

Write the left part 齿 first, then the right part 足. The right part 足 has 7 strokes: a vertical stroke, then horizontal fold, horizontal, vertical, horizontal, left-falling stroke, and right-falling stroke. A common mistake is making the right part too tall or misaligning the tops of 齿 and 足.

龃 (jǔ) means irregular teeth and appears in the word 龃龉 (disagreement), while 龄 (líng) means age. Visually, 龊 has 足 on the right, 龃 has 且, and 龄 has 令. Their meanings are completely different: 龊 is about dirtiness or meanness, not teeth or age.

龊 is almost never used alone; it always appears in the compound 龌龊 (wò chuò), meaning 'dirty, filthy' or morally base. You might also see it in the phrase 卑鄙龌龊 (mean and despicable) to describe a person's character. It is a formal, negative word and not common in casual conversation.

Common words containing 龊 include: 龌龊 (wò chuò) — dirty; filthy; base; mean; 卑鄙龌龊 (bēi bǐ wò chuò) — mean and filthy; despicable; 龌龊事 (wò chuò shì) — dirty business; despicable deeds.