挫 (cuò): obstructed, to fail, to oppress

挫 (cuò) is a Chinese character meaning “obstructed.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 坐 (phonetic). It ranks #2348 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 挫 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).

Native pronunciation

HSK 6 Radical: 扌 hand10 strokesFrequency #2348扌 semantic 坐 phonetic

Definitions

obstructed
to fail
to oppress

Etymology & Origin

挫

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌坐 (layout: left-right)

Components:扌semantic 坐phonetic

Stroke Order

Practice writing 挫 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 挫

Word	Pinyin	Meaning	HSK
挫折verb	cuò zhé	setback	6

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
挫败	cuò bài	to thwart
受挫	shòu cuò	thwarted
挫折感	cuò zhé gǎn	frustration
抑扬顿挫	yì yáng dùn cuò	see 頓挫抑揚\|顿挫抑扬[dun4 cuo4 yi4 yang2]
下挫	xià cuò	(of sales, prices etc) to fall
力挫	lì cuò	to win as a result of tenacious effort
重挫	zhòng cuò	devastating setback
顿挫抑扬	dùn cuò yì yáng	cadence
顿挫	dùn cuò	a transition (stop and change) in spoken sound, music or in brush strokes
折挫	zhé cuò	to frustrate
挫疮	cuò chuāng	acne

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

挫 appears in 12 compound words: 33 as the first character, 58 as the last, and 8 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 挫 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

折zhé

0.65312,726 co-occurrences

败bài

0.5455,784 co-occurrences

屡lǚ

0.497684 co-occurrences

受shòu

0.46610,476 co-occurrences

遭zāo

0.4333,036 co-occurrences

遇yù

0.4282,256 co-occurrences

抑yì

0.420678 co-occurrences

肺fèi

0.396498 co-occurrences

普pǔ

0.38815 co-occurrences

锐ruì

0.381210 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

顿挫抑扬dùn cuò yì yángHSK 6+

cadence; modulation

phrase

抑扬顿挫yìyángdùncuòHSK 6+

rising and falling in cadence; intonation; speaking in measured tones; (of speech) cadenced

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他挫起袖子，开始认真地打扫房间。

tā cuò qǐ xiù zǐ , kāi shǐ rèn zhēn dì dǎ sǎo fáng jiān .

He rolled up his sleeves and began cleaning the room thoroughly.

中時新聞網Feb 2026

年后猪价重挫非美猪惹祸?养猪协会:与进口猪有关

nián hòu zhū jià chóng cuò fēi měi zhū rě huò ? yǎng zhū xié huì : yǔ jìn kǒu zhū yǒu guān

After the year, pig prices plummeted, and non-American pigs caused trouble? Pig Breeding Association: Related to imported pigs

Fx168 Finance NetworkFeb 2026

ETF市场日报 | 影视游戏ETF重挫逾7%领跌,油气板块逆势爆发涨超9%-F...

E T F shì chǎng rì bào yǐng shì yóu xì E T F chóng cuò yú 7 lǐng diē , yóu qì bǎn kuài nì shì bào fā zhǎng chāo 9 F . . .

ETF Market Daily | Film and television game ETFs fell more than 7% to lead the decline, and the oil and gas sector bucked the trend and rose more than 9%-F...

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

圆汇突挫1% 传高市早苗上周与日央行行长会面时对...

yuán huì tū cuò 1 chuán gāo shì zǎo miáo shàng zhōu yǔ rì yāng háng háng cháng huì miàn shí duì . . .

The yen exchange rate plummeted by 1% It is rumored that Sanae Takaichi met with the governor of the Bank of Japan last week to ...

BastillepostFeb 2026

...点纳指跌逾1% AI报告引发多类股份下挫

. . . diǎn nà zhǐ diē yú 1 A I bào gào yǐn fā duō lèi gǔ fèn xià cuò

... The Nasdaq fell more than 1% The AI report triggered a decline in many types of stocks

EtnetFeb 2026

《国金头条》美股重挫道指跌821点,IBM创自2000年以来...

guó jīn tóu tiáo měi gǔ chóng cuò dào zhǐ diē 8 2 1 diǎn , I B M chuàng zì 2 0 0 0 nián yǐ lái . . .

U.S. stocks plummeted the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 821 points, and IBM hit its first record since 2000...

Tatoeba

一个人得遇到多大的挫折才会自杀？

Yīgèrén de yùdào duōdà de cuòzhé cái huì zìshā?

How frustrated must a person be to commit suicide?

Tatoeba

他克服了种种困难和挫折，终于成功一个人越过了南极洲。

Tā kèfú le zhǒngzhǒng kùnnan hé cuòzhé, zhōngyú chénggōng yīgèrén yuèguò le Nánjízhōu.

He overcame all sorts of hardship and setbacks to succeed in a solo crossing of Antarctica.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 挫 (cuò) mean in Chinese?

挫 (cuò) primarily means "obstructed." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2348 in character frequency.

How many strokes does 挫 have?

挫 is written with 10 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.

What is the radical of 挫?

The radical associated with 挫 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.

What are the components of 挫?

挫 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 坐 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌坐 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 挫?

Common words with 挫 include: 挫折 (cuò zhé, "setback"); 挫败 (cuò bài, "to thwart"); 受挫 (shòu cuò, "thwarted"); 挫折感 (cuò zhé gǎn, "frustration"); 抑扬顿挫 (yì yáng dùn cuò, "see 頓挫抑揚|顿挫抑扬[dun4 cuo4 yi4 yang2]"). There are over 12 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 挫 (cuò)?

Several characters share the pronunciation cuò: 搓 (to rub or roll between the hands or fingers), 磋 ((old) to polish bones, horns, ivory etc into tools), 措 (to handle), 错 (wrong, mistake). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 挫 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 挫 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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