How to Write 歪 (wāi) — Meaning “Crooked; slanted; devious”

Imagine a picture of a person standing with one foot on a banana peel — they are no longer upright. The left side 不 shows 'not,' and the right side 正 shows 'straight,' so 歪 visually reminds you of something that is 'not straight.'

Write the left component 不 first (3 strokes), then the right component 正 (5 strokes) — total 9 strokes. A common mistake is making the two halves uneven in size; keep them balanced even though the character means crooked.

Visually, 歪 contains 不 and 正, while 步 has 止 on top and a different bottom (like 少 without a dot), and 武 combines 止 with 弋. In meaning, 歪 means crooked or devious, 步 means step or pace, and 武 means military or martial — they are unrelated in usage.

歪 is very common in everyday Chinese for describing something tilted, like 歪了 (it's crooked) or 歪头 (to tilt your head). It can also mean 'twisted logic' in 歪理, and in informal speech it sometimes hints at dishonesty or being offbeat.

Common words containing 歪 include: 歪了 (wāi le) — Tilted; gone crooked; 歪头 (wāi tóu) — To tilt one's head; 歪理 (wāi lǐ) — Fallacy; twisted logic.