How to Write 禸 (róu) — Meaning “Trampled footprint (Chinese radical 114)”

Imagine a single deep footprint pressed into soft mud — the vertical line is the heel mark and the horizontal line is the toe imprint. Picture the number 5 (its stroke count) written inside the footprint to help recall the shape. This visual connects the appearance to its meaning 'trampled footprint.'

Start with the vertical stroke from top to bottom, then add the short horizontal stroke across the upper part — do not make the horizontal stroke too long or too low. The two strokes should intersect at about the upper third of the vertical line. A common mistake is writing the horizontal stroke too far down, making it look like a different shape.

The most common expressions are 禸部 (róu bù) meaning 'the rou radical' and 禸头 (róu tóu) meaning 'the rou radical component.' These are used mainly in Chinese character dictionaries or when discussing radical classifications. The word 禸字 (róu zì) simply refers to the character itself.

禸 is extremely rare in everyday writing and mostly appears as a radical in Chinese character reference books. It is not part of the HSK vocabulary and has no common words in daily conversation. Its main use is for academic study of Chinese character radicals and stroke order.

Common words containing 禸 include: 禸部 (róu bù) — The 'rou' radical; 禸字 (róu zì) — The character 'rou'; 禸头 (róu tóu) — The 'rou' radical component.