(cuò): to handle, to manage, to put in order

(cuò) is a Chinese character meaning “to handle.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1146 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

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

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to handle
  2. to manage
  3. to put in order

Etymology & Origin

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌昔 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nouncuò shīmeasure5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
bù zhī suǒ cuònot knowing what to do (idiom)
jīng huāng shī cuòto lose one's head out of fear (idiom)
cuò cíwording
cuò shǒu bù jíno time to deal with it (idiom)
shǒu zú wú cuòat a loss to know what to do (idiom)
jǔ cuòmove
shī cuòto be at a loss
chóu cuòto raise (money)
cuò cíwording
xiàng bā píng cuòQiangba Puncog (1947-), chairman of the government of Tibet (i.e. governor) 2003-2010
ān quán cuò shīsafety measure
cuò dàworthless scholar
píng quán cuò shīaffirmative action
cuò yìto pay attention to
wú cuòhelpless
32
Total compounds
44
As first character
44
As last character
13
As middle character

appears in 32 compound words: 44 as the first character, 44 as the last, and 13 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

shī
0.782223,132 co-occurrences
huāng
0.5353,432 co-occurrences
fáng
0.50126,720 co-occurrences
0.4717,698 co-occurrences
chóu
0.4563,330 co-occurrences
0.44824,906 co-occurrences
0.44512,220 co-occurrences
0.4343,684 co-occurrences
kòng
0.42111,046 co-occurrences
jīng
0.4121,566 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

bùzhīsuǒcuòHSK 5+

to be at a loss for what to do; to lose one's bearings

phrase
cāng huáng shī cuòHSK 6+

flustered; ruffled; disconcerted

phrase
cuòshǒubùjíHSK 5+

to be caught unawares

phrase
cuòzhìyùrúHSK 6+

to handle one's affairs with ease

phrase
shǒuzúwúcuòHSK 5+

to be at a loss for what to do

phrase
zhāng huáng shī cuòHSK 6+

panic-stricken (idiom); to be in a flustered state; also written 張惶失措|张惶失措[zhang1 huang2 shi1 cuo4]

phrase
jīnghuáng shīcuòHSK 5+

alternative form of 驚慌失措 /惊慌失措 (jīnghuāngshīcuò)

phrase

Showing 7 of 8 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了一个电话,约朋友晚上一起吃饭。

tā cuò le yī gě diàn huà , yāo péng yǒu wǎn shǎng yī qǐ chī fàn .

He made a phone call to arrange dinner with his friends that evening.

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

桃园市图新施 整合全市40分馆学生公共服务预约申请

táo yuán shì tú xīn cuò shī zhěng gě quán shì 4 0 fēn guǎn xué shēng gōng gòng fú wù yù yuē shēn qǐng

Taoyuan City's new measures integrate the city's 40 branches and students' public service appointment applications

StheadlineFeb 2026

涵盖校长推荐入学计划等5施 直资议会夥港大助非本地生来港升学

hán gài jiào cháng tuī jiàn rù xué jì huá děng 5 cuò shī zhí zī yì huì 夥 gǎng dà zhù fēi běn dì shēng lái gǎng shēng xué

Covering 5 measures including the Principal's Recommendation Admission Scheme The DSS Council has partnered with HKU to help non-local students study in Hong Kong

StheadlineFeb 2026

...本地生来港升学 涵盖校长推荐入学计划等5

. . . běn dì shēng lái gǎng shēng xué hán gài jiào cháng tuī jiàn rù xué jì huá děng 5 cuò shī

... Local students coming to Hong Kong for further studies cover 5 measures including the Principal's Recommendation Admission Scheme

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

彭博示警 缓冲期过后祭301永久

彭 bó shì jǐng huǎn chōng qī guò hòu jì 3 0 1 yǒng jiǔ cuò shī

Bloomberg warns of permanent measures to sacrifice 301 after the buffer period

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

...2期部署短期推出 冀《预算案》推利好楼市

. . . 2 qī bù shǔ duǎn qī tuī chū 冀 yù suàn àn tuī lì hǎo lóu shì cuò shī

... The second phase of deployment will be launched in the short term, hoping that the "Budget" will promote measures that are good for the property market

Tatoeba

这些施可以预防疾病蔓延。

Zhèxiē cuòshī kěyǐ yùfáng jíbìng mànyán.

These measures can prevent the disease from spreading.

Tatoeba

你们采取什么施避孕?

Nǐmen cǎiqǔ shénme cuòshī bìyùn?

What methods of contraception are you using?

Tatoeba

我们采取了强有力的预防施。

Wǒmen cǎiqǔ le qiángyǒulì de yùfáng cuòshī.

We took strong measures to prevent it.

Tatoeba

预防施比真正的治疗更有效。

Yùfáng cuòshī bǐ zhēnzhèng de zhìliáo gèng yǒuxiào.

Preventive measures are much more effective than the actual treatment.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced cuò

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 措 (cuò) mean in Chinese?
措 (cuò) primarily means "to handle." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1146 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 措 and 借?
措 (cuò) and 借 (jiè) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 扌 vs 亻 (same 昔 component).
How many strokes does 措 have?
措 is written with 11 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 措?
The radical associated with 措 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 措?
措 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 昔 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌昔 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 措?
Common words with 措 include: 措施 (cuò shī, "measure"); 不知所措 (bù zhī suǒ cuò, "not knowing what to do (idiom)"); 惊慌失措 (jīng huāng shī cuò, "to lose one's head out of fear (idiom)"); 措辞 (cuò cí, "wording"); 措手不及 (cuò shǒu bù jí, "no time to deal with it (idiom)"). There are over 32 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 措 (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), 挫 (obstructed), 错 (wrong, mistake). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 措 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 措 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.