How to Write 骰 (tóu) — Meaning “dice”

Picture a bone (骨) in a hand (殳) being tossed into the air — that is how you play dice. The image of a "bone hand" throwing something reminds you that 骰 means dice, which are often made of bone and thrown by hand.

Pay attention to the radical 骨 (9 strokes): the top part looks like a hat with a small hook, and the lower part has a curved horizontal stroke. The right side 殳 (4 strokes) must be balanced slightly lower than the bone, and do not confuse the final stroke of 殳 with a hook.

骱 (jiè) means a bone joint — it has 介 (shell or joint) on the right, while 骶 (dǐ) means the sacrum bone in the lower back and has 氐 (bottom) on the right. In contrast, 骰 uses 殳 on the right and only means dice, never bones of the body.

骰 appears mainly in the word 骰子 (dice) and phrases like 掷骰子 (roll dice) or 摇骰子 (shake dice). It is common in board games, gambling, and entertainment contexts, such as in mahjong or traditional Chinese dice games.

Common words containing 骰 include: 骰子 (tóu zi) — dice; 掷骰子 (zhì tóu zi) — to roll dice; 摇骰子 (yáo tóu zi) — to shake dice.