How to Write 脶 (luó) — Meaning “whorls of a fingerprint”

Imagine your fingerprint looks like a small spiral net (罗) on the flesh (月) of your fingertip. Picture the whorl as a tiny rope circle, which will help you recall that 脶 means the whorls of a fingerprint.

Pay attention to the left radical 月: it should be narrow and vertical, with the two horizontal strokes ending just before the right side. The right part 罗 has a top component 罒 (a net) with four strokes, and below it 夕 (evening) — make sure the bottom stroke of 夕 is a slight hook, not a straight line.

朐 (qú) means the thigh or a kind of meat, and its right side is 句 (sentence), not 罗. 朔 (shuò) means new moon or north, with the left part 月 (moon) and right part 屰 (reverse). Unlike 脶, neither relates to fingerprints: 朐 is about body parts, and 朔 is about time or direction.

脶 is a rare character almost exclusively used in the context of fingerprint patterns, like in 脶纹 (luó wén) meaning the spiral ridges. It appears in forensic reports or traditional fingerprint analysis, but is uncommon in daily conversation. Culturally, fingerprint whorls are sometimes associated with personal identity and luck in old Chinese beliefs.

Common words containing 脶 include: 脶纹 (luó wén) — fingerprint whorls; 指脶 (zhǐ luó) — fingerprint whorl; 脶口 (luó kǒu) — the center of a fingerprint whorl.