浊 (zhuó): turbid, muddy, impure

浊 (zhuó) is a Chinese character meaning “turbid.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (structural) and 虫 (structural). It ranks #2736 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 浊 a pond 氵 growing scum 虫. 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. turbid
  2. muddy
  3. impure

Etymology & Origin

浊

ideographicA pond 氵 growing scum 虫

Decomposition: ⿰氵虫 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
污浊adjectivewū zhuódirty
浑浊adjectivehún zhuómuddy
混浊adjectivehùn zhuóturbid
浊音nounzhuó yīn(phonetics) voiced sound
激浊扬清jī zhuó yáng qīnglit. drain away filth and bring in fresh water (idiom)
扬清激浊yáng qīng jī zhuósee 激濁揚清|激浊扬清
浊塞音nounzhuó sè yīn(linguistics) voiced stop
浊世nounzhuó shìthe world in chaos
浊度zhuó dùturbidity
白浊nounbái zhuógonorrhea (TCM term)
五浊wǔ zhuóthe five impurities (Buddhism)
浊流nounzhuó liúturbid flow
浊酒nounzhuó jiǔunfiltered rice wine
恶浊adjectiveè zhuófilthy
浊积岩zhuó jī yánturbidite (geology)
20
Total compounds
45
As first character
50
As last character
5
As middle character

浊 appears in 20 compound words: 45 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 5 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 浊 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

浑hún
0.598285 co-occurrences
擦cā
0.529332 co-occurrences
声shēng
0.494942 co-occurrences
音yīn
0.4722,470 co-occurrences
辅fǔ
0.445212 co-occurrences
塞sāi
0.431614 co-occurrences
混hùn
0.429231 co-occurrences
唇chún
0.42482 co-occurrences
清qīng
0.403800 co-occurrences
悬xuán
0.39878 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

扬清激浊yáng qīng jī zhuóHSK 7+

see 激濁揚清|激浊扬清

phrase

Showing 1 of 2 idioms containing 浊.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

暴雨过后,浊水上涨,淹没了低洼的街道。

bào yǔ guò hòu , zhuó shuǐ shǎng zhǎng , yān méi le dī 洼 de jiē dào .

After the downpour, the muddy water rose, flooding the low-lying streets.

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

原本清澈的 溪流突然变浑浊 ,可能是上游暴雨将泥沙、石块带入水中,形成山洪、泥石流。

yuán běn qīng chè de xī liú tū rán biàn hún zhuó , kě néng shì shàng yóu bào yǔ jiāng ní shā , shí kuài dài rù shuǐ zhōng , xíng chéng shān hóng , ní shí liú .

The stream, which had been clear, suddenly turned murky—possibly because a heavy rainstorm upstream washed sediment and rocks into the water, causing flash floods and mudslides.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

对此恶风浊流,非除不可!

duì cǐ è fēng zhuó liú , fēi chú bù kě !

These harmful trends and corrupt influences must be eradicated!

LtnMar 2026

GSK流感疫苗有混浊物同批停用 台中12剂已封存

G S K liú gǎn yì miáo yǒu hùn zhuó wù tóng pī tíng yòng tái zhōng 1 2 jì yǐ fēng cún

GSK Flu Vaccine Batch Recalled Due to Particles; 12 Doses in Taichung Have Been Sealed

三立新聞網Mar 2026

新/GSK流感疫苗惊见白色混浊 14县市回收

xīn G S K liú gǎn yì miáo jīng jiàn bái sè hùn zhuó 1 4 xiàn shì huí shōu

New/GSK Flu Vaccine Found to Contain White Turbidity; Recalled in 14 Counties and Cities

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

...54万剂!新北诊所赫见GSK流感疫苗含混浊物 疾管署急回收

. . . 5 4 wàn jì ! xīn běi zhěn suǒ hè jiàn G S K liú gǎn yì miáo hán hùn zhuó wù jí guǎn shǔ jí huí shōu

...540,000 doses! GSK flu vaccine found to contain particulates at a clinic in New Taipei City; CDC orders urgent recall

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhuó

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 浊 (zhuó) mean in Chinese?
浊 (zhuó) primarily means "turbid." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2736 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 浊 have?
浊 is written with 9 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 浊?
The radical associated with 浊 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 浊?
浊 is composed of: 氵 (structural), 虫 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵虫 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 浊?
Common words with 浊 include: 污浊 (wū zhuó, "dirty"); 浑浊 (hún zhuó, "muddy"); 混浊 (hùn zhuó, "turbid"); 浊音 (zhuó yīn, "(phonetics) voiced sound"); 激浊扬清 (jī zhuó yáng qīng, "lit. drain away filth and bring in fresh water (idiom)"). There are over 20 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 浊 (zhuó)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhuó: 桌 (table, desk), 捉 (to clutch), 卓 (outstanding), 拙 (awkward), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 浊 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 浊 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 浊 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.