How to Write 魈 (xiāo) — Meaning “Mountain demon”

Picture a small ghost (鬼) sitting on a mountain (山 is implied by the meaning) and making a "xiao" sound. The right side 肖 looks like a little monkey face, which matches the word 山魈 (mandrill), a monkey with a colorful face.

Write the left radical 鬼 first: stroke order is a left-falling line, then a horizontal line, a short sweep, a dot, then 白 (bái) inside, followed by 儿 with a hook. The right side 肖 is written with the small 小 (dot, dot, short downward stroke) on top and 月 (yuè) below. A common mistake is making the right side too big or misplacing the dot of 小.

魈 (xiāo) means "mountain demon" and uses the right component 肖. 魃 (bá) is a drought demon, with the right side 犮 (bá) meaning "pull" or "dog." 魄 (pò) means "soul" or "spirit" and uses 白 (white) on the right. Visually, the right parts are all distinct: 肖, 犮, and 白.

魈 is not a common everyday character, but it appears in the word 山魈 (shān xiāo), which means "mandrill" — a type of monkey. It also shows up in classical texts and fantasy settings to refer to mountain spirits. Recently, the character gained popularity as the name of a character in the video game Genshin Impact, though that usage is a proper noun.

Common words containing 魈 include: 山魈 (shān xiāo) — Mandrill; 魈魅 (xiāo mèi) — Mountain spirits; 魈鬼 (xiāo guǐ) — Mountain ghost.