How to Write 催 (cuī) — Meaning “to urge; to hurry; to hasten”

Imagine a person (亻) standing at the foot of a mountain (山) and urging a bird (隹) to fly over it quickly. This picture combines all three parts of the right side 崔 with the person radical, helping you recall the character's form and meaning.

Write the left radical 亻 first, then the right side: 山 (three strokes) followed by 隹 (eight strokes). A common mistake is to miss one of the four horizontal strokes in 隹 — count them carefully. Keep the left part narrow and the right part wider for proper balance.

All three have the person radical 亻, but the right sides differ: 催 has 崔 (mountain + bird), 偃 has 匽 (a different phonetic), and 假 has 叚 (also a phonetic). Their meanings are distinct: 催 means 'to urge', 偃 means 'to fall or lie down', and 假 means 'false'.

催 appears in common words like 催促 (to urge someone), 催眠 (hypnosis), and 催缴 (to demand payment). A culturally relevant example is 催婚 (cuī hūn), meaning 'pressure to get married', which reflects a common social issue in China. This character is often used in contexts involving deadlines, pressure, or inducing a state.

Common words containing 催 include: 催促 (cuī cù) — to urge; to press someone to do something; 催眠 (cuī mián) — hypnosis; to hypnotize; 催缴 (cuī jiǎo) — to demand payment; to urge payment.