How to Write 赇 (qiú) — Meaning “bribe”

Imagine someone 'begging' (求) for 'money' (贝) to bribe an official. Picture a person on their knees holding a coin and saying 'Please take my bribe!' — the shape of 求 looks like a person bowing, and 贝 is like a shell or coin.

The left side 贝 must be written with three strokes: vertical, horizontal fold, and a short left-falling stroke, then a dot. The right side 求 has six strokes: a horizontal, a vertical hook, a left-falling stroke, a right-falling stroke, a dot, and a final left-falling stroke. A common mistake is making the 求 component too wide or forgetting the dot inside 求.

While all three contain 贝 (money), 赇 (bribe) has 求 on the right, 贰 (meaning 'two' or 'disloyal') has 二 (two) or a slightly different shape, and 贱 (cheap) has 戋 (small, few). Visually, 赇 is left-right structure with 求, 贰 is often left-right with 二 on the right, and 贱 has 戋 on the right with a longer stroke.

赇 is a formal or literary character rarely used alone; it appears in compound words like 贿赇 (bribery), 贪赇 (corruption), and 受赇 (to accept bribes). It is typically found in legal or news contexts discussing corruption, and carries a strong negative moral judgment in Chinese culture, which condemns bribery as a serious offense.

Common words containing 赇 include: 贿赇 (huì qiú) — bribery; 贪赇 (tān qiú) — To take bribes / Corruption; 受赇 (shòu qiú) — to accept bribes.