丑 (chǒu): clown, 2nd earthly branch: 1-3 a.m., 12th solar month (6th January to 3rd February), year of the Ox, ancient Chinese compass point: 30°
丑 (chǒu) is a Chinese character meaning “clown.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 刀 (structural) and 二 (structural). It ranks #1880 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Definitions
- clown
- 2nd earthly branch: 1-3 a.m., 12th solar month (6th January to 3rd February), year of the Ox
- ancient Chinese compass point: 30°
Stroke Order
Practice writing 丑 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 小丑 | xiǎo chǒu | clown |
| 丑陋 | chǒu lòu | ugly |
| 丑闻 | chǒu wén | scandal |
| 出丑 | chū chǒu | to make a fool of oneself |
| 丑恶 | chǒu è | ugly |
| 丑八怪 | chǒu bā guài | ugly person |
| 丑事 | chǒu shì | scandal |
| 丑话 | chǒu huà | ugly talk |
| 家丑 | jiā chǒu | family scandal |
| 丑化 | chǒu huà | to defame |
| 丑角 | chǒu jué | clown role in opera |
| 丑态 | chǒu tài | shameful performance |
| 献丑 | xiàn chǒu | (used self-deprecatingly, e.g. when asked to sing a song) to put one's artistic incompetence on display |
| 丑相 | chǒu xiàng | ugly expression |
| 丢丑 | diū chǒu | to lose face |
丑 appears in 47 compound words: 51 as the first character, 32 as the last, and 17 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 丑 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
丑字由4笔画组成，结构很巧妙。
chǒu zì yóu bǐ huà zǔ chéng , jié gòu hěn qiǎo miào .
The character "丑" consists of four strokes and has a very clever structure.
爆一爆|恒生盘数有几丑?阿妈滙丰要增资(Louise)
bào yī bào héng shēng pán shǔ yǒu jī chǒu ? ā mā 滙 fēng yāo zēng zī ( L o u i s e )
Exposé | Just How Bad Is the Hang Seng Index? Mom's Bank, HSBC, Plans Capital Increase (Louise)
男星基斯宾高化惊爆性丑闻 藉工诱女模赴美 非法禁锢逼当性奴
nán xīng jī sī bīn gāo huà jīng bào xìng chǒu wén 藉 gōng yòu nǚ mó fù měi fēi fǎ jīn 锢 bī dāng xìng nú
Actor Kispeng Gao Hua shocked the sex scandal and lured female models to the United States to illegally imprison and force them to be sex slaves
...住持爆与6女有染!“两女争夫”影片疯传 丑闻揭发后秒还俗神隐
. . . zhù chí bào yǔ 6 nǚ yǒu rǎn ! liǎng nǚ zhēng fū yǐng piàn fēng chuán chǒu wén jiē fā hòu miǎo hái sú shén yǐn
... The abbot had an affair with 6 women!" Two women fighting for husbands" The film went viral, and after the scandal was exposed, it was still secular and hidden
挪威王室深陷丑闻之际 89岁国王哈拉德五世感染住院
nuó wēi wáng shì shēn xiàn chǒu wén zhī jì 8 9 suì guó wáng hā lā dé wǔ shì gǎn rǎn zhù yuàn
The Norwegian royal family is mired in a scandal when 89-year-old King Harald V is hospitalized with an infection
英国前驻美大使曼德尔森因涉爱泼斯坦丑闻被捕
yīng guó qián zhù měi dà shǐ 曼 dé ěr sēn yīn shè ài pō sī tǎn chǒu wén bèi bǔ
Former British ambassador to the United States Mandelson was arrested in connection with the Epstein scandal
美丽、丑陋、富有、贫穷、强壮和虚弱都是形容词。
Měilì, chǒulòu, fùyǒu, pínqióng, qiángzhuàng hé xūruò dōu shì xíngróngcí.
Beautiful, ugly, rich, poor, strong, and weak are examples of adjectives.
一个丑男人敲了我的门。
Yī gè chǒu nánrén qiāo le wǒ de mén.
An ugly man knocked on my door.
那个丑男人在节食，这个我们知道就好。
Nàge chǒu nánrén zài jiéshí, zhège wǒmen zhīdào jiù hǎo.
Between you and me, the fat ugly man is on a diet.
他承认自己与这宗丑闻有牵连。
Tā chéngrèn zìjǐ yǔ zhè zōng chǒuwén yǒu qiānlián.
He admits being involved in the scandal.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 丑 (chǒu) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 丑 have?
What is the radical of 丑?
What are the components of 丑?
What are common words containing 丑?
What characters sound the same as 丑 (chǒu)?
Is 丑 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 丑 with real-time feedback
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