How to Write 溃 (kuì) — Meaning “To collapse; to burst; to fester.”

Imagine a precious treasure (贵) falling into water (氵) and causing a dam to "collapse" — the water bursts out. The visual of something expensive being ruined by water helps link the shape to the meaning of collapse or burst.

The left radical 氵 (three water drops) must be written narrow and short, with the third dot slightly angled upward. The right part 贵 has a long horizontal stroke near the top; make sure it extends to the left over the water radical to keep the character balanced. A common mistake is making the water radical too wide or forgetting the narrow vertical line in 贵.

溃 means "to collapse" or "to fester," while 流 means "to flow" (as in water flowing) and 浙 is a river name and also short for Zhejiang province. Visually, 溃 has 贵 on the right, 流 has 㐬 (a flowing child), and 浙 has 折 (to break) on the right. They share the water radical but have completely different meanings and pronunciations.

溃 appears in words like 崩溃 (collapse, breakdown) for mental or system failure, and 溃烂 (to fester) for wounds or corruption. It is often used in news or medicine to describe situations that have broken down completely. Culturally, 崩溃 is a very common emotional expression for feeling overwhelmed, similar to "I'm losing it" in English.

Common words containing 溃 include: 崩溃 (bēng kuì) — To collapse / breakdown; 溃败 (kuì bài) — To be utterly defeated; rout.; 溃烂 (kuì làn) — To fester; to ulcerate..