How to Write 厄 (è) — Meaning “adversity or hardship”

Imagine a person (卩) stuck under a cliff (厂) and think 'Oh no, this is 厄 (è) situation!' The sound 'è' is like saying 'uh-oh' in English. This visual and sound trick helps you recall the meaning of hardship.

Write 厄 with 4 strokes: first a horizontal line, then a left-falling stroke for the cliff radical, then a horizontal fold, and finally a vertical hook for the bottom part. A common mistake is making the bottom part look like 巳 (snake) – remember it is a simple kneeling figure, not a closed shape.

厄 has a kneeling person (卩) at the bottom, while 仄 has a person (人) leaning sideways and means oblique or narrow. 厂 is just the cliff radical alone, meaning factory or cliff, and has no bottom part. Visually, 厄's bottom is like a hook shape, unlike the others.

厄 is used in formal or literary words like 厄运 (bad luck) and 灾厄 (calamity) to describe misfortune. It is not common in daily speech but appears in news, stories, and idioms. For example, 厄尔尼诺 (El Niño) uses this character to mean a climate phenomenon that brings hardship.

Common words containing 厄 include: 厄运 (è yùn) — misfortune or bad luck; 困厄 (kùn è) — Adversity / Hardship; 灾厄 (zāi è) — calamity; misfortune.