How to Write 诖 (guà) — Meaning “To involve; to hinder; to error”

Imagine a person giving a speech (讠) while holding a heavy jade tablet (圭, which looks like two stacked earth blocks). Their words are clumsy and cause mistakes, so they trip over the tablet — that is 诖, meaning 'to hinder' or 'to involve in error'.

Write the left radical 讠 first as two strokes (dot then horizontal折). The right side 圭 consists of two 土 (earth) stacked — each 土 has three strokes: horizontal, vertical, horizontal. Keep the whole character balanced, with the right part slightly taller than the left.

诖 (guà) means 'to involve in error' or 'to hinder,' while 讲 (jiǎng) means 'to speak' or 'to explain,' and 讳 (huì) means 'to avoid mentioning' or 'taboo.' Visually, 诖 has 圭 on the right, 讲 has 井 (well), and 讳 has 韦 (leather). Their meanings are distinct even though all share the speech radical.

诖 is a rare, classical character mostly seen in formal or literary phrases like 诖误 (guà wù) meaning 'to implicate someone by mistake.' It is not used in everyday conversation and appears mainly in written Chinese, often in legal or historical texts discussing errors or entanglements.

Common words containing 诖 include: 诖误 (guà wù) — To implicate in error; to mislead; 诖碍 (guà ài) — Obstacle; hindrance; 诖乱 (guà luàn) — To confuse; to throw into disorder.