侮 (wǔ) — (bound form) to insult; to bully

Definition

侮 is a bound morpheme meaning 'to insult / bully'; it never stands alone — it must pair with 辱 (侮辱) or 欺 (欺侮).

bound form

to insultto bully

Easily confused

。
Tā shuō de nà xiē huà shì duì wǒ jí dà de wǔ rǔ.
What he said was a great insult to me.
。
Wǒ men bù néng suí biàn qī wǔ ruò xiǎo.
We cannot bully the weak just as we please.
。
Zhè ge mín zú céng jīng shòu guò wài zú de wǔ rǔ.
This nation once suffered humiliation from foreign tribes.

Sound + meaning

六书liùshū

形声xíngshēng

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

人人rénperson

Sound part声符shēngfú

每

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

侮 pairs 人, a person, with 每 as a sound component; the person part shows the meaning concerns a person.