How to Write 谖 (xuān) — Meaning “to deceive or forget”

Imagine a person (爰) using smooth words (讠) to trick you into forgetting something important — just say "xuan!" and your memory disappears. Another trick: think of the famous "forget-worry grass" (谖草), and picture yourself saying "xuān" to make your worries fade away.

The left radical 讠 is written with two strokes: first a dot, then a horizontal stroke that turns downward and then left. The right part 爰 has a top component 爫 (three strokes) and a bottom 又 (two strokes), and you must not add an extra "心" like in 爱. A common mistake is confusing the right side with 爱 or 受 — remember 谖 has no "心" in the middle.

Visually, 谖 has the right part 爰, while 诫 has 戒 (a weapon) and 诬 has 巫 (a shaman). In meaning, 谖 means "to deceive" or "to forget", 诫 means "to warn" (like a caution), and 诬 means "to falsely accuse". So when you see a character with 讠 on the left and a different right side, check that shape to know which one it is.

谖 is quite rare in modern Chinese and is mostly found in literary or classical contexts. The most common use is in 谖草 (daylily), called "forget-worry grass" in traditional poetry — it was believed that eating or wearing this plant could help people forget their sorrows. You might also see 忘谖 (to forget) or 永谖 (to never forget) in old texts, but these are not used in everyday speech.

Common words containing 谖 include: 谖草 (xuān cǎo) — daylily (forget-worry grass); 忘谖 (wàng xuān) — To forget (literary); 永谖 (yǒng xuān) — To never forget.