How to Write 糗 (qiǔ) — Meaning “Embarrassing”

Imagine a bowl of rice (米) that smells bad (臭) — that smell is embarrassing when someone notices it. So you can think: "Rice that stinks is 糗 (embarrassing) because everyone will find out."

Pay attention to the proportions: the left radical 米 should be narrow, and the right part 臭 should be wider, especially the bottom stroke. A common mistake is making the 米 too wide or forgetting the dot on top of 臭 — 糗 has 16 strokes, so count carefully.

糗 has the radical 米 on the left and the right side is 臭 (smelly), but 粹 has the radical 米 on the left and the right side is 卒 (soldier), meaning pure or essence. 粼 has the radical 米 on the left and the right side is 粦 (firefly-like), meaning clear water — it has a different bottom shape (three dots on the right).

Use 糗 to describe an embarrassing moment or mistake, especially in casual speech — for example, 太糗了 (tài qiǔ le) means "so embarrassing." It is not formal written Chinese but very common in daily conversation with friends, so avoid using it in serious or professional writing.

Common words containing 糗 include: 糗事 (qiǔ shì) — Embarrassing incident; 出糗 (chū qiǔ) — to make a fool of oneself; 太糗了 (tài qiǔ le) — So embarrassing.