How to Write 涂 (tú) — Meaning “to paint; to smear; to spread”

Imagine you are painting a wall with watercolor paint. You have extra water (氵) and leftover paint (余) after finishing, so you smear the excess around. This reminds you that 涂 means "to smear" or "to spread."

The left water radical 氵 should be written narrow, with the three strokes compact. The right component 余 has a person radical on top, then a horizontal stroke, a vertical hook, and two diagonal strokes at the bottom; keep the right side slightly wider than the left. A common mistake is making the water radical too wide or misplacing the vertical hook in 余.

涂 (tú) has the right side 余 (surplus), while 沫 (mò) has 末 (end) and 沭 (shù) has 术 (technique). Visually, 余 looks like a person on top of a cross, 末 has a longer horizontal top, and 术 has a dot above the vertical. In meaning, 涂 is for painting or smearing, 沫 means foam like soap bubbles, and 沭 is only used in the name of a river.

涂 appears in common words like 糊涂 (hú tú, meaning muddled or confused) and 涂改 (tú gǎi, to alter or erase and rewrite). It is also used in 涂抹 (tú mǒ, to smear or apply paint). Culturally, 糊涂 is frequently used to describe someone who is not thinking clearly, like "You are so糊涂!" meaning "You are so confused!"

Common words containing 涂 include: 糊涂 (hú tú) — Muddled; 涂改 (tú gǎi) — to alter; to erase and change; 涂抹 (tú mǒ) — to smear; to apply; to scribble.