How to Write 瘘 (lòu) — Meaning “fistula”

Imagine a sick person (疒) who has a tiny leak (娄 sounds like "low") — the fluid slowly drips through a hidden tunnel. Picture the top of 娄 as a crack in the body, with the woman (女) below symbolizing the narrow passage.

Start with the three strokes of 疒 (dot, horizontal, left-falling), then write the right part 娄. Make sure 娄 is balanced: the top 米 should be slightly wider than the bottom 女, and the left-falling stroke of 疒 extends under 娄 to wrap around it. A common mistake is making 娄 too tall or forgetting the dot in 疒.

痘 (dòu, pimple) has the bottom part 豆 (bean), referring to a small bump on the skin. 痛 (tòng, pain) has 甬 (yǒng) and means general pain or ache. 瘘 (lòu) specifically means a fistula — an abnormal tunnel inside the body — which is a different kind of disease.

瘘 appears in medical terms like 瘘管 (fistula tube) and 痔瘘 (anal fistula), mostly in hospitals or health articles. It is not used in daily conversation because it describes a specific surgical condition. In traditional Chinese medicine, fistulas were treated with herbal poultices and drainage techniques.

Common words containing 瘘 include: 痔瘘 (zhì lòu) — anal fistula; 瘘管 (lòu guǎn) — fistula (medical); 颈瘘 (jǐng lòu) — cervical fistula.