How to Write 砸 (zá) — Meaning “to smash / to pound”

Imagine a stone (石) hitting a box with a loud "ZAH!" sound (咂). The visual of a stone smashing something helps recall the meaning of "to smash" or "to pound."

Write the left radical 石 narrower than the right side. The right part 咂 has a mouth radical 口 on top and 匝 below; make sure the mouth is small and centered. A common mistake is making the left and right parts equal in width.

矸 (gān) means "a rock" or refers to waste rock in mining, and 矻 (kū) means "to toil" or describes stones rubbing together. Unlike 砸, which involves active smashing, 矸 and 矻 are rare and do not carry the "smash" or "fail" meanings. Visually, 砸 has the right-side component 咂, while 矸 has 干 and 矻 has 乞.

砸 is common in informal speech, like 砸了 meaning "to mess up" or "to break something by dropping." In internet slang, 砸锅 literally means "to smash the cooking pot" and figuratively means "to fail completely" in a task or performance. It is not an HSK word but appears in everyday conversations.

Common words containing 砸 include: 砸了 (zá le) — smashed / messed up; 砸碎 (zá suì) — to shatter / to smash to pieces; 砸锅 (zá guō) — to fail / to mess up.