How to Write 佻 (tiāo) — Meaning “frivolous; flighty”

Imagine a person (亻) who is so frivolous that they waste a trillion (兆) dollars on silly things. This visual of someone thoughtlessly spending a huge amount of money helps you link 佻 to the idea of being flighty and careless.

Write the left radical 亻 first (two strokes: a left-falling slash and a vertical line), then the right part 兆 (six strokes). The right side 兆 begins with a left-falling stroke, then three short strokes (dots or slashes), and ends with a curved hook (儿). A common mistake is to confuse the order of the strokes inside 兆—make sure you write the left dot before the right components.

佻 (tiāo) means frivolous (person + 兆), while 仰 (yǎng) means 'to look up' or 'admire' (person + a kneeling figure), and 仲 (zhòng) means 'middle' or 'second' (person + 中). Visually, the right parts are different: 兆, 卩 (in 仰), and 中 (in 仲). In usage, 佻 appears in words like 轻佻 (flippant), while 仰 is in 仰慕 (admire) and 仲 is in 仲夏 (midsummer).

Common words containing 佻 include: 轻佻 (qīng tiāo) — Frivolous; flippant; 佻薄 (tiāo bó) — frivolous and impudent; 佻巧 (tiāo qiǎo) — frivolous and cunning.