How to Write 糟 (zāo) — Meaning “Messy / Bad / Distiller's grains”

Imagine rice (米) is spilled all over a chaotic group (曹) — this creates a terrible mess. You can also remember the common phrase 糟糕 (zāo gāo, "terrible") and think of saying "Zao!" like "Oh no!" when something goes wrong.

The left radical 米 should be narrow and compact, about one-third of the total width. The right side 曹 has 11 strokes; a common mistake is writing the top part as 艹 (grass radical) instead of two horizontal strokes under a roof-like shape. Make sure the bottom "日" is centered and not too tall.

糟 means "bad" or "messy" and is used in words like 糟糕 (terrible), while 糅 (róu) means "to mix" or "to blend" (as in 糅合). 糇 (hóu) refers to dried food or rations. Visually, 糟 has 曹 on the right, 糅 has 柔 (soft), and 糇 has 侯 (marquis) — so the right side is the key difference.

糟 appears in common exclamations like 糟糕! ("Oh no!" or "That's terrible!") and in descriptions like 糟透了 ("extremely bad") or 乱糟糟 ("in a mess"). The original meaning "distiller's grains" survives in 酒糟 (jiǔ zāo, dregs from brewing), but the "bad/messy" sense is far more frequent in modern conversation.

Common words containing 糟 include: 糟糕 (zāo gāo) — Terrible / Awful / Oh no!; 糟透了 (zāo tòu le) — Extremely bad / A total mess; 乱糟糟 (luàn zāo zāo) — messy or chaotic.