潦 (liáo): used in 潦草 (sloppy) and 潦倒 (down on one's luck), flooded, heavy rain

潦 (liáo) is a Chinese character meaning “used in 潦草 (sloppy) and 潦倒 (down on one's luck).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 尞 (phonetic). It ranks #2960 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 潦 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. used in 潦草 (sloppy) and 潦倒 (down on one's luck)
  2. flooded
  3. heavy rain

Etymology & Origin

潦

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵尞 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
潦倒adjectiveliáo dǎodown on one's luck
潦草adjectiveliáo cǎoslipshod
穷困潦倒phraseqióng kùn liáo dǎo(idiom) to live in poverty and despair
贫穷潦倒pín qióng liáo dǎodestitute
穷愁潦倒qióng chóu liáo dǎoimpoverished and dejected
5
Total compounds
40
As first character
0
As last character
60
As middle character

潦 appears in 5 compound words: 40 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 60 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 潦 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

穷qióng
0.579218 co-occurrences
倒dǎo
0.5511,102 co-occurrences
困kùn
0.510529 co-occurrences
贫pín
0.44862 co-occurrences
草cǎo
0.442265 co-occurrences
旱hàn
0.43546 co-occurrences
愁chóu
0.40818 co-occurrences
魄pò
0.39914 co-occurrences
泄xiè
0.35212 co-occurrences
溪xī
0.33848 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

穷愁潦倒qióng chóu liáo dǎoHSK 7+

impoverished and dejected; wretched and penniless

phrase

Showing 1 of 2 idioms containing 潦.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

清晨的潦面波光粼粼,倒映着岸边的柳树。

qīng chén de lǎo miàn bō guāng 粼 粼 , dǎo yìng zhe àn biān de liǔ shù .

The early morning water surface shimmered with ripples, reflecting the willow trees along the shore.

少数派Aug 2026

他们生前穷困潦倒无人问津,一生在不被理解中度过,直到死后才被人铭记。

tā men shēng qián qióng kùn lǎo dǎo wú rén wèn jīn , yī shēng zài bù bèi lǐ jiě zhōng dù guò , zhí dào sǐ hòu cái bèi rén míng jì .

While they were alive, they lived in abject poverty and were ignored by everyone; they spent their entire lives misunderstood, and it was only after their deaths that they were remembered.

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

韩国陶艺家结缘云南潦浒 助千年陶镇提质扬名

hán guó táo yì jiā jié yuán yún nán lǎo 浒 zhù qiān nián táo zhèn tí zhì yáng míng

South Korean Ceramic Artist Finds a Connection with Lahu in Yunnan, Helping the Millennia-Old Pottery Town Enhance Its Quality and Gain Recognition

中国新闻网·文化May 2026

近来握笔练字,学会了你的名,虽然潦草,努力数日定会成功。

jìn lái wò bǐ liàn zì , xué huì le nǐ de míng , suī rán lǎo cǎo , nǔ lì shǔ rì dìng huì chéng gōng .

Lately, I’ve been practicing calligraphy and have learned to write your name. Though my handwriting is still a bit sloppy, I’m sure I’ll get it right after a few days of practice.

爱范儿Apr 2026

龚宇也亲自出来重申,解释自己在发布会时的表达,以及进行一些潦草的公关动作。

龚 yǔ yě qīn zì chū lái chóng shēn , jiě shì zì jǐ zài fā bù huì shí de biǎo dá , yǐ jí jìn háng yī xiē lǎo cǎo de gōng guān dòng zuò .

Gong Yu also personally stepped forward to reiterate his stance, clarify his remarks from the press conference, and make some half-hearted public relations gestures.

少数派Apr 2026

画一只潦草的简笔画、写一句需求,很快就能拿到可用的设计稿。

huà yī zhī lǎo cǎo de jiǎn bǐ huà , xiě yī jù xū qiú , hěn kuài jiù néng ná dào kě yòng de shè jì gǎo .

Just sketch a rough, simple drawing or write down a requirement, and you'll have a usable design draft in no time.

Tatoeba

他年轻的时候穷困潦倒。

Tā niánqīng de shíhou qióngkùn liǎodǎo.

He was terribly poor when he was young.

Tatoeba

谢谢你在我贫困潦倒之时借给我$500。

Xièxie nǐ zài wǒ pínkùn liáodǎo zhī shí jiègěi wǒ $500.

Thank you very much for lending me $500 when I was having difficulty making ends meet.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced liáo

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 潦 (liáo) mean in Chinese?
潦 (liáo) primarily means "used in 潦草 (sloppy) and 潦倒 (down on one's luck)." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2960 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 潦 and 灯?
潦 (liáo) and 灯 (dēng) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 潦 (heavy) vs 灯 (light).
How many strokes does 潦 have?
潦 is written with 15 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 潦?
The radical associated with 潦 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 潦?
潦 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 尞 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵尞 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 潦?
Common words with 潦 include: 潦倒 (liáo dǎo, "down on one's luck"); 潦草 (liáo cǎo, "slipshod"); 穷困潦倒 (qióng kùn liáo dǎo, "(idiom) to live in poverty and despair"); 贫穷潦倒 (pín qióng liáo dǎo, "destitute"); 穷愁潦倒 (qióng chóu liáo dǎo, "impoverished and dejected"). There are over 5 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 潦 (liáo)?
Several characters share the pronunciation liáo: 僚 (bureaucrat), 料 (material), 疗 (to treat), 聊 (chat), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 潦 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 潦 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 潦 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.