How to Write 哚 (duǒ) — Meaning “Indole (chemical) / Knocking sound”

Imagine someone knocking on a door and saying 'Duo! Duo!' as a sound effect. The left part 口 is like an open mouth making the sound, and the right part 朵 looks like a small bell or ear listening — together they remind you of a knocking sound.

Write the left radical 口 first (vertical stroke, top horizontal, bottom horizontal), then the right part 朵 starting with the top 刀-like strokes (slanting left, horizontal hook), then the tree radical below (horizontal, vertical, left-falling, right-falling, left-falling, dot). A common mistake is making the right component too wide — keep it balanced and slightly narrower than the left.

哚 has 口 on the left and 朵 on the right, while 君 has 口 as a bottom component inside a different frame and means 'ruler' or 'you'. 吝 has 口 at the top and 文 below, meaning 'stingy'. Visual differences: 哚 uses the phonetic 朵, whereas 君 and 吝 have distinct structural patterns unrelated to sound words.

哚 is rarely used alone; it mainly appears in scientific terms like 吲哚 (indole, a chemical compound) and 苯吲哚 (benzindole). It can also appear in the reduplicated word 哚哚 to describe a knocking or tapping sound, but this is uncommon in everyday speech. You will mostly encounter it in chemistry or specialized texts.

Common words containing 哚 include: 吲哚 (yǐn duǒ) — indole; 哚哚 (duǒ duǒ) — Knocking sound; 苯吲哚 (běn yǐn duǒ) — Benzindole.