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臭 (chòu) — smelly, stinky (literal); (figurative) terrible, lousy, terrible (of a skill, idea, reputation)

Definition

Adjective with two faces: literal 'smelly, stinky', and figurative 'terrible, lousy' (skills, ideas). 臭 is more colloquial than 可恶 or 丑恶, which mean truly hateful/evil.

adjective
smellystinky (literal)(figurative) terriblelousyterrible (of a skill, idea, reputation)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 臭，。
    Zhè tiáo yú yǐ jīng chòu le, bù néng chī.
    This fish has gone bad (is smelly) and can't be eaten.
  • 臭，。
    Tā xià de qí zhēn chòu, měi cì dōu shū.
    He plays chess terribly; he loses every time.
  • 臭。
    Tā zuì jìn chū de jǐ gè zhǔ yì dōu hěn chòu.
    The ideas he's come up with recently are all terrible.

Origin

Compound ideograph
六书liùshū
会意huìyì

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

臭 combines 自 (nose) and 犬 (dog), referring to a dog's strong sense of smell; it originally meant 'to smell'.

Appears in
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