醉 (zuì): intoxicated

醉 (zuì) is a Chinese character meaning “intoxicated.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 酉 (semantic) and 卒 (phonetic). It ranks #1766 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 醉 wine. Its radical form 酉 (wine) appears in many related characters such as 配 (pèi, to join), 酸 (suān, sour), 醒 (xǐng, to wake up).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. intoxicated

Etymology & Origin

醉

pictophoneticwine

Decomposition: ⿰酉卒 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
麻醉verbmá zuìanesthesia
麻醉剂nounmá zuì jìan anesthetic
醉鬼nounzuì guǐdrunkard
醉醺醺adjectivezuì xūn xūndrunk
灌醉verbguàn zuìto fuddle
陶醉verbtáo zuìto be infatuated with
沉醉verbchén zuìto become intoxicated
麻醉药nounmá zuì yàoanesthetic
醉汉nounzuì hànintoxicated man
麻醉师nounmá zuì shīanaesthetist
醉心verbzuì xīnenthralled
自我陶醉zì wǒ táo zuìself-satisfied
心醉神迷xīn zuì shén míecstatic
如痴如醉phraserú chī rú zuì(idiom) enthralled
醉意nounzuì yìtipsiness
61
Total compounds
33
As first character
38
As last character
30
As middle character

醉 appears in 61 compound words: 33 as the first character, 38 as the last, and 30 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 醉 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

麻má
0.5977,110 co-occurrences
喝hē
0.5883,203 co-occurrences
酒jiǔ
0.5347,110 co-occurrences
灌guàn
0.484836 co-occurrences
酣hān
0.44358 co-occurrences
沉chén
0.426936 co-occurrences
陶táo
0.424746 co-occurrences
拳quán
0.422395 co-occurrences
驾jià
0.416370 co-occurrences
药yào
0.406680 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

贵妃醉酒guì fēi zuì jiǔ

The Drunken Beauty, Qing Dynasty Beijing opera

phrase
金迷纸醉jīn mí zhǐ zuìHSK 5+

see 紙醉金迷|纸醉金迷

phrase
烂醉如泥làn zuì rú níHSK 6+

(idiom) to be dead drunk; to be plastered

phrase
麻醉药品má zuì yào pǐnHSK 5+

narcotic

phrase
如痴如醉rúchīrúzuìHSK 7+

in ecstasies over; intoxicated by something; enchanted; carried away; spellbound; fascinated

phrase
如醉如痴rúzuìrúchīHSK 7+

alternative form of 如痴如醉 (rúchīrúzuì, “spellbound; fascinated”)

phrase
我醉欲眠wǒ zuì yù miánHSK 6+

lit. I'm drunk and would like to sleep (idiom); (used to indicate one's sincere and straightforward nature)

phrase
一醉方休yīzuìfāngxiūHSK 5+

to drink to get drunk

phrase
纸醉金迷zhǐzuìjīnmíHSK 5+

to indulge in a life of luxury and dissipation

phrase
自我陶醉zì wǒ táo zuìHSK 7+

self-satisfied; self-imbued; narcissistic

phrase
醉生梦死zuìshēngmèngsǐHSK 5+

to lead a befuddled life as if one is drunk or dreaming

phrase
酩酊大醉mǐngdǐngdàzuìHSK 5+

heavily intoxicated; blind drunk

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

写好醉字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。

xiě hǎo zuì zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .

To write the character "醉" correctly, you need to master the proper stroke order.

99 健康网Mar 2026

银川做微创堕胎多少钱?解析手术方式与麻醉类型的组合价

yín chuān zuò wēi chuàng duò tāi duō shǎo qián ? jiě xī shǒu shù fāng shì yǔ má zuì lèi xíng de zǔ gě jià

How much does a minimally invasive abortion cost in Yinchuan? A breakdown of package prices for different surgical methods and anesthesia options

99 健康网Mar 2026

韶关无痛堕胎微创手术费用是多少?汇总麻醉与手术的综合收费

韶 guān wú tòng duò tāi wēi chuàng shǒu shù fèi yòng shì duō shǎo ? huì zǒng má zuì yǔ shǒu shù de zèng gě shōu fèi

How much does a minimally invasive painless abortion cost in Shaoguan? A summary of the total fees for anesthesia and the procedure

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

高雄男清晨醉返家未带磁扣 与大楼管理员口角挥拳相向遭...

gāo xióng nán qīng chén zuì fǎn jiā wèi dài cí kòu yǔ dà lóu guǎn lǐ yuán kǒu jiǎo huī quán xiāng xiàng zāo . . .

Kaohsiung man returned home drunk in the early morning without a magnetic buckle and swung his fist at the building administrator...

Hk01.comFeb 2026

雪梨14岁被TVB高层借醉非礼 幸黄树棠出拳相救:佢话𡃁妹你都搞

xuě lí 1 4 suì bèi T V B gāo céng jiè zuì fēi lǐ xìng huáng shù 棠 chū quán xiāng jiù : 佢 huà mèi nǐ dōu gǎo

Sydney was drunk and indecent assault by TVB executives at the age of 14, but fortunately, Huang Shutang punched to save her: He said you can do it too

99 健康网Feb 2026

孕期喝了酒对宝宝有没有影响?一次醉酒会造成永久损伤吗

yùn qī hē le jiǔ duì bǎo bǎo yǒu méi yǒu yǐng xiǎng ? yī cì zuì jiǔ huì zào chéng yǒng jiǔ sǔn shāng ma

Does drinking alcohol during pregnancy affect the baby? Can a single drunkenness cause permanent damage?

Tatoeba

喝醉的驾驶员对车祸有责任。

Hēzuì de jiàshǐyuán duì chēhuò yǒuzérèn.

A drunk driver was responsible for the car accident.

Tatoeba

他沉醉于喜悦之中。

Tā chénzuì yú xǐyuè zhīzhōng.

He was drunk with joy.

Tatoeba

你是不是喝醉到能再说一遍德语的程度?

Nǐ shìbùshì hēzuì dào néng zàishuō yībiàn Déyǔ de chéngdù?

Are you drunk enough to speak German once again?

Tatoeba

什么痛苦能让你想用酒精去麻醉自己?

Shénme tòngkǔ néng ràng nǐ xiǎng yòng jiǔjīng qù mázuì zìjǐ?

What pain are you trying to cover up with alcohol?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 酉 (wine) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced zuì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 醉 (zuì) mean in Chinese?
醉 (zuì) primarily means "intoxicated." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1766 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 醉 and 碎?
醉 (zuì) and 碎 (suì) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 酉 vs 石 (same 卒 component).
How many strokes does 醉 have?
醉 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 醉?
The radical associated with 醉 is 酉 (wine). This radical appears in many characters related to wine.
What are the components of 醉?
醉 is composed of: 酉 (semantic), 卒 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰酉卒 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 醉?
Common words with 醉 include: 麻醉 (má zuì, "anesthesia"); 麻醉剂 (má zuì jì, "an anesthetic"); 醉鬼 (zuì guǐ, "drunkard"); 醉醺醺 (zuì xūn xūn, "drunk"); 灌醉 (guàn zuì, "to fuddle"). There are over 61 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 醉 (zuì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zuì: 最 ((before an adjective or verb) to the highest degree), 罪 (guilt), 嘴 (mouth). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 醉 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 醉 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 醉 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.