How to Write 辘 (lù) — Meaning “Windlass; pulley.”

Imagine a deer (鹿) standing next to a cart wheel (车) and turning it to make a rumbling sound. The deer's name is "Lu" (lù), so think of "deer turning the wheel — lù lù" to recall both the sound and meaning of 辘.

Pay attention to the stroke order of the right side 鹿: start with the dot on top, then the horizontal strokes, and finally the inner parts. The bottom part of 鹿 is 比 (but without the left stroke?), actually it's 鹿 has 11 strokes — common mistake is to write the bottom part like 能 or miss the hook on the seventh stroke. Keep the left 车 narrow and the right 鹿 balanced.

毂 (gǔ) means the hub of a wheel and is used in technical or classical contexts, while 舆 (yú) means a carriage or public opinion. In contrast, 辘 refers specifically to a windlass or pulley, and is also used in the common idiom 饥肠辘辘 for stomach growling. Visually, 毂 has a different right component (𣪠) and 舆 has a different structure (车 + 与).

辘 appears mostly in fixed expressions like 饥肠辘辘 (stomach rumbling loudly from hunger), 辘轳 (a winch for drawing water from a well), and 辘辘声 (the rumbling sound of wheels). It is not common in everyday speech but appears in literary or descriptive writing to evoke sounds or traditional tools.

Common words containing 辘 include: 饥肠辘辘 (jī cháng lù lù) — stomach growling with hunger; 辘轳 (lù lú) — Windlass; pulley for a well.; 辘辘声 (lù lù shēng) — Rumbling sound (of wheels)..