How to Write 溲 (sōu) — Meaning “to urinate; to soak”

Imagine an old man (叟) who has to run to the restroom because he drank too much water (氵). The water radical on the left and the old man on the right form a picture of someone needing to urinate, matching the character's meaning. You can also think of "sōu" sounding like "sou" in "soup" to hint at liquid.

Write the left radical 氵 as three dots in a diagonal line first. Then for the right part 叟, start with a short left-falling stroke, then a vertical stroke, followed by two horizontal lines inside. A common mistake is making the right side too wide or forgetting the top horizontal stroke inside the 叟.

溲 has the right part 叟 (old man), while 流 has 㐬 (a different component often seen in "flow") and 浙 has 折 (meaning break or discount). Visually, 溲's right side looks like a square with a "X" or lines inside, whereas 流's right side is more like a curly shape, and 浙's right side is simpler with a horizontal and vertical hook.

溲 is not a common character in everyday speech; it appears mainly in medical or classical texts for words like 溲便 (urination and defecation) and 溲溺 (to urinate). It is also used in the name of a flowering shrub 溲疏 (Deutzia). Learners rarely need to use it, but recognizing it can help with reading older Chinese literature.

Common words containing 溲 include: 溲便 (sōu biàn) — urination and defecation; 溲疏 (sōu shū) — Deutzia (a type of flowering shrub); 溲溺 (sōu nì) — to urinate.