How to Write 灰 (huī) — Meaning “ash; dust; gray”

Imagine a campfire (火) that has burned down completely, leaving only gray ash and dust on the ground. The shape of 灰 can be remembered as "fire that has turned into dust" — think of the top part as flames and the bottom as scattered ashes.

When writing 灰, start with the radical 火 as three strokes: dot, left-slanting stroke, then right-slanting stroke. The bottom part is written with two strokes: a left-falling stroke and a right-falling stroke, and it should be slightly narrower than the top. A common mistake is making the bottom part too wide or misplacing the dots.

火 (fire) is just the radical and means fire itself, while 灰 adds a lower component to mean ash or dust. 灭 (to extinguish) has a horizontal line over 火, indicating covering fire to put it out — 灰 has no such cover and instead shows the result after fire is gone.

灰 commonly appears in words like 灰色 (gray color) and 灰尘 (dust). In 灰心 (to lose heart), the character metaphorically means "ashen" or "burnt out" emotions — it is used to describe feeling discouraged, like the ashes of a fire that has died.

Common words containing 灰 include: 灰色 (huī sè) — gray; 灰尘 (huī chén) — dust; 灰心 (huī xīn) — discouraged; lose heart.