How to Write 鼽 (qiú) — Meaning “Nasal congestion; allergic rhinitis”

Imagine you have nine (九) blockages inside your nose (鼻) — that is a lot of congestion! This visual of "nine things blocking your nose" helps connect the form to the meaning of nasal congestion.

Be careful with the stroke order of the left radical 鼻 — it has many strokes and must be written compactly. The right part 九 starts with a left-slanting stroke (撇) followed by a horizontal curved hook (横折弯钩). A common mistake is making the left side too wide or mixing up the sequence of strokes in 鼻.

鼻 (bí) simply means "nose" and is a common character, while 鼽 specifically refers to nasal congestion or allergic rhinitis. 鼾 (hān) means "snore" and uses the same radical but has the component 干 on the right instead of 九. Visually, 鼽 has 九 on the right, 鼾 has 干 on the right, and 鼻 has no extra component.

鼽 is a rare character found mostly in medical or classical texts, often in terms like 鼽嚏 (sneezing with congestion) or 鼽衄 (congestion with nosebleed). It is not used in everyday conversation and is far less common than the simple word 鼻塞 (bí sè) for nasal stuffiness.

Common words containing 鼽 include: 鼽嚏 (qiú tì) — Sneezing due to nasal congestion; 鼽窒 (qiú zhì) — Nasal congestion; 鼽衄 (qiú nǜ) — Nasal congestion and nosebleed.