How to Write 懦 (nuò) — Meaning “cowardly; weak”

Think of the heart radical 忄 combined with 需 (need) — a coward's heart always 'needs' someone else to be brave. You can also imagine the sound 'nuò' like 'no' — a coward says 'no' to any challenge.

This character has 17 strokes. The left radical 忄 is written with two dots first, then a vertical stroke. The right part 需 has a top 雨 (8 strokes) and bottom 而 (6 strokes); be careful not to make the 雨 too narrow, and keep the vertical stroke of 忄 aligned with the center of the right component.

All three share the heart radical 忄, but 憎 means 'hate' (right side 曾), and 憔 means 'haggard' (right side 焦). In contrast, 懦 means 'cowardly' or 'weak-willed' — it describes a lack of courage, not hatred or exhaustion. Visually, 懦's right part has a rain component (雨), while the others have different top parts.

懦 appears in formal or literary contexts, such as 懦弱 (cowardly), 懦夫 (coward), and 怯懦 (timid). It is not part of the HSK vocabulary, so it is less common in daily conversation but still used in writing to strongly criticize someone's lack of bravery. In Chinese culture, calling someone a 懦夫 is a serious insult.

Common words containing 懦 include: 懦弱 (nuò ruò) — cowardly; weak-willed; 懦夫 (nuò fū) — coward; 怯懦 (qiè nuò) — cowardly; timid.