How to Write 落 (là/lào/luò) — Meaning “to fall; to drop; to descend”

Imagine a plant (艹) dropping its leaves one by one into a river (洛, which contains water radical 氵). The visual of leaves falling into water helps you remember that 落 means "to fall" or "to descend."

Write the top radical 艹 first as two horizontal strokes and a vertical, then the left part of 洛 (氵) as three dots, followed by the right part 各 (gè). Keep the overall shape balanced, with the grass radical covering about one-third of the character's height. A common mistake is making the 氵 too narrow or forgetting the dot on top of 各.

落 (luò/là) focuses on falling or dropping, while 荷 (hé) means lotus or to carry a burden, and 荸 (bí) appears only in the word 荸荠 (water chestnut). Visually, 落 has 洛 underneath, 荷 has 何 (he) with a person radical, and 荸 has 孛 (bèi). Their meanings and uses are completely different.

落 is commonly used in words like 降落 (to land), 落叶 (fallen leaves), and 落下 (to drop). It also appears in idioms such as 落井下石 (to hit someone when they're down), which highlights a negative social behavior. In poetry, 落 often describes autumn scenes or the passing of time.

Common words containing 落 include: 降落 (jiàng luò) — to land / to descend; 落叶 (luò yè) — Fallen leaves; 落下 (là xià) — to fall down; to drop.