How to Write 嬲 (niǎo) — Meaning “To tease; to pester; to flirt”

Picture a woman (女) being bothered by two men (男 男) — one above and one below her. This visual of a woman stuck between two annoying men helps you recall that 嬲 means 'to tease' or 'to pester'.

Write the left radical 女 first, narrow and slightly slanted. Then write the right side with two 男 radicals stacked vertically; each 男 should be compact, and the bottom one slightly narrower than the top. A common mistake is making the two 男 too wide, causing the character to look unbalanced.

嬉 (xī) means 'to play joyfully' and uses the radical 喜 (happiness) on the right, while 嬖 (bì) means 'favorite concubine' and uses 辟 (to open) on the right. In contrast, 嬲 specifically implies annoying teasing between a woman and two men, and is not about fun or favoritism.

嬲 is very rare in modern Standard Mandarin and is mostly found in classical texts or certain dialects like Cantonese. In Mandarin, people usually use words like 逗 (dòu) for 'tease' instead. It is not included in the HSK vocabulary list.

Common words containing 嬲 include: 嬲戏 (niǎo xì) — To tease; to play tricks on; 嬲恼 (niǎo nǎo) — To tease and annoy; 嬲人 (niǎo rén) — To pester people; annoying.