How to Write 尻 (kāo) — Meaning “buttocks; end of the spine”

Picture the radical 尸 as a person sitting down, and 九 (nine) as the tailbone having nine small bumps. Imagine someone saying "Ow, my butt has nine bumpy bones!" to link the shape to the meaning of buttocks or coccyx.

Start with the radical 尸: write the horizontal stroke first, then the left-falling stroke, and finally the vertical line. Underneath, write 九: first the left-falling stroke, then the horizontal bent stroke. Keep the top part narrow and the bottom 九 centered so the character is balanced.

尸 (shī) means corpse or body and is just the top radical alone, while 尻 adds 九 below. 尹 (yǐn) means to govern and has a horizontal stroke crossing through the left-falling stroke, plus a right-falling stroke, so it looks completely different. Only 尻 specifically refers to the rear end or tailbone.

尻 is not common in everyday speech but appears in anatomical terms like 尻骨 (coccyx) and 尻子 (buttocks, often in dialect). It may also describe the rump of an animal in farming or butchering contexts. Culturally, it is considered a crude term, so it is used mainly in medical or technical writing.

Common words containing 尻 include: 尻骨 (kāo gǔ) — coccyx; tailbone; 尻子 (kāo zi) — buttocks; backside; 尻尖 (kāo jiān) — rump (of an animal).