How to Write 甪 (lù) — Meaning “Lu (a character used in place names).”

Imagine a person (人) holding a "use"-ful (用) horn (角) that points to the sky — this is the mythical beast Luduan (甪端). The shape looks like a horn sticking out from the right side of 用, reminding you that 甪 appears in names of ancient towns and creatures.

Start with the left stroke (a short diagonal left-falling stroke), then write the top horizontal and left vertical of 用. The right side of 用 has a vertical stroke that goes straight down, and the final two horizontal strokes should be parallel and evenly spaced. A common mistake is making the left component look like 人 (rén) instead of the correct horn-like shape.

甪 differs from 用 (yòng, "use") by having an extra left stroke that looks like a slash or horn, while 甩 (shuǎi, "to swing") has a curved hook inside 用 instead. In meaning, 甪 is only used in place names and for the mythical beast 甪端, while 用 and 甩 are common verbs. Visually, 甪 has six strokes, 用 has five, and 甩 has eight.

甪 is almost exclusively found in proper names, such as 甪直 (Luzhi, an ancient water town in Suzhou) and 甪里 (a historical place name). It also appears in 甪端, a legendary auspicious animal in Chinese mythology that can judge right from wrong. Because 甪 is not in the HSK vocabulary, learners encounter it mainly when studying geography or ancient culture.

Common words containing 甪 include: 甪直 (lù zhí) — Luzhi (an ancient town in Suzhou).; 甪里 (lù lǐ) — Luli (a place name).; 甪端 (lù duān) — Luduan (a mythical auspicious beast)..