How to Write 伛 (yǔ) — Meaning “Hunchbacked; to bend.”

Imagine a person (亻) bending over to fit inside a hidden area (区, which suggests a region or enclosed space). This mental picture of a person crouching into a small space will help you recall that 伛 means 'to bend' or 'hunchbacked'.

The left radical 亻 should be narrow and tall, with the vertical stroke slightly curved. The right part 区 has three strokes inside a frame — write the outer box first (一, 乚), then the inner ㇓ (a left-slanting stroke) before closing with the bottom horizontal stroke.

伛 (yǔ) means 'hunchbacked' or 'to bend', while 什 (shén/shí) means 'ten' or 'what', and 仁 (rén) means 'benevolence' or 'kindness'. Visually, 伛 has a 区 component on the right, which looks like a box with an 'x' inside, whereas 什 has a simple 十 and 仁 has 二.

伛 is not a common character in everyday speech; it appears mainly in literary or descriptive contexts, such as in the word 伛偻 (yǔ lǚ) meaning 'stooping with age'. You might encounter it in classical poetry or descriptions of elderly people's posture, but it is rarely used in conversation.

Common words containing 伛 include: 伛偻 (yǔ lǚ) — Hunchbacked; stooping.; 伛身 (yǔ shēn) — To bend one's body.; 伛背 (yǔ bèi) — Hunchback..