How to Write 粕 (pò) — Meaning “Dregs; lees; pomace”

Imagine pressing rice (米) so hard that it turns white (白) and leaves a small sealed leftover (卩) — that leftover is the dregs or pomace. The sound "pò" can remind you of "pour" out the liquid, keeping the solid waste.

Write the radical 米 first (6 strokes), then the right side: 白 (5 strokes) followed by 卩 (2 strokes) — total 11 strokes. A common mistake is making the right side too tall or confusing 白 with 日; keep 白's top stroke slanted and the bottom 卩 small and compact.

粕 means dregs or waste, while 籽 means seed (a whole grain) and 籼 refers to a type of rice (indica). Visually, 粕 has a complex right side with 白 and 卩, whereas 籽 has a simple 子 on the right, and 籼 often has 山 or other components.

粕 appears in words like 糟粕 (dross or worthless ideas), 豆粕 (soybean meal for animal feed), and 酒粕 (sake lees used in cooking). Culturally, 糟粕 is also used metaphorically to describe intellectual waste or useless knowledge, especially in literary criticism.

Common words containing 粕 include: 糟粕 (zāo pò) — Dross / Waste / Rubbish; 豆粕 (dòu pò) — soybean meal; 酒粕 (jiǔ pò) — Sake lees / Wine dregs.