How to Write 溷 (hùn) — Meaning “dirty; muddy; chaotic; latrine”

Picture a pig (often associated with dirt) standing in a puddle of water, splashing mud everywhere. The left side 氵 is the water, and the right side 圂 looks like a pig inside an enclosure, reminding you of a messy, muddy pigsty. This visual links to the meanings of dirty and chaotic.

Write the left side 氵 first with three dots in the normal water radical order (dot, dot, lift). The right side 圂 is wider: start with the outer frame (vertical stroke, horizontal stroke), then the inside box and the two small strokes. Keep the left and right balanced — the right side should be slightly taller than the left. A common mistake is making the right side too narrow or forgetting the small inner strokes.

溷 (hùn) means dirty or chaotic, while 涪 (fú) refers to the Fu River in Sichuan and has no negative connotation. 涫 (guān) means to boil or bubble, related to water boiling. Visually, 溷 has the right component 圂 (an enclosure), whereas 涪 has 咅 (a phonetic component) and 涫 has 官 (an official). Their pronunciations and meanings are completely different.

溷 is rarely used in everyday modern Chinese, mostly appearing in classical or literary texts. It appears in words like 溷浊 (hùn zhuó, turbid) to describe muddy water or morally corrupt situations. Culturally, because 溷 also means latrine, it can carry a sense of vulgarity or lowliness, but today you are more likely to encounter the simpler character 混 (hùn) for the meaning of 'mixed' or 'chaotic'.

Common words containing 溷 include: 溷浊 (hùn zhuó) — turbid; muddy; 溷乱 (hùn luàn) — chaotic; messy; 溷迹 (hùn jì) — to drift along; to live in a certain environment.