How to Write 欶 (shuò) — Meaning “To suck or inhale”

Imagine a person using a straw (束 looks like a tied bundle or a straw) to suck a drink, with the mouth (欠) actively inhaling. Picture the left side as a straw and the right side as an open mouth, combining to represent the action of sucking.

Write the left component 束 first: horizontal, vertical, horizontal, vertical hook, then two small strokes (dot and left-falling). Then add the right component 欠: left-falling, horizontal hook, left-falling, and a final dot (or small stroke). A common mistake is making the 束 too wide or forgetting the small strokes inside; keep the left side compact and the right side balanced.

欶 (shuò) means to suck and uses the radical 欠; 欮 (jué) means to dig or excavate and has 厥 under the 欠, giving a very different right side. 欲 (yù) means desire or wish and also uses 欠, but its left side is 谷 (valley). Visual focus on the left component—束 for 欶, 谷 for 欲—to tell them apart.

欶 is a rare, literary character not used in daily conversation; it appears mostly in classical texts or formal writing about sucking motions. You may encounter it in words like 吮欶 (shǔn shuò, to suck) or 欶饮 (shuò yǐn, to suck and drink), but these are not common. Knowing it helps understand historical Chinese medical or poetic descriptions of inhalation.

Common words containing 欶 include: 欶 (shuò) — To suck or inhale; 吮欶 (shǔn shuò) — to suck; 欶饮 (shuò yǐn) — To suck and drink.