How to Write 嗾 (sǒu) — Meaning “To egg on; to incite.”

Imagine a mouth (口) shouting at a large group of people (族) to stir them into action. The left side is the mouth giving orders, and the right side looks like many people under a flag, helping you recall that 嗾 means 'to egg on' a crowd.

嗾 has 14 strokes. Write the left radical 口 first as a small box, then the right part 族: start with the top 方 (a dot then horizontal stroke), then the 人 element, and finally the bottom 矢. A common mistake is making the mouth too large or misplacing the right side's components—keep the left mouth small and centered.

㕡 (hè) is extremely rare and means a pit or gully, unrelated to inciting; it also contains 口 but with different internal parts. 啻 (chì) means 'only' or 'but' and is used in phrases like 不啻 (bù chì, meaning 'no less than'). Unlike 嗾, neither 㕡 nor 啻 carry the meaning of egging someone on.

嗾 is mostly found in formal or literary contexts, often in phrases like 嗾使 (sǒu shǐ) meaning 'to instigate' someone to do something bad. It appears in news or legal reports about manipulation, and native speakers may recognize it but rarely use it in daily conversation—a more common term is 唆使 (suō shǐ).

Common words containing 嗾 include: 嗾使 (sǒu shǐ) — To instigate; to egg someone on.; 嗾 (sǒu) — To egg on; to incite.; 谁嗾使 (shuí sǒu shǐ) — Who instigated?.