HSK 5 · Adjectives

臭 chòu “smelly” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 臭 means

  1. smelly
  2. stinking
  3. to stink
  4. stench
  5. to smell (bad)
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • repulsive
  • loathsome
  • terrible

How to say 臭

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale臭chòu4th tone, falling

臭 in a sentence

  1. 你的袜子好臭。

    Nǐ de wàzi hǎo chòu.

    Your socks stink.

    Sentence #9931088 from Tatoeba

  2. 他的衣服总是很臭。

    Tā de yīfu zǒngshì hěn chòu.

    His clothes always smell bad.

    Sentence #834416 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  3. 虽然我喜欢大蒜,但因为很臭,所以很少吃。

    Suīrán wǒ xǐhuan dàsuàn, dàn yīnwèi hěn chòu, suǒyǐ hěn shǎo chī.

    I like garlic, but because it smells so strong, I rarely eat it.

    Sentence #13108726 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 臭 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 臭 (chòu) with each of its parts in a different colour
臭chòustench
  • 自self · zì
  • 犬dog · quǎn

How to write 臭

臭 10 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

臭 (chòu) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 臭 (chòu). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 臭

More words: Adjectives

FAQs

臭 (chòu) means “smelly” or “stinking”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it chòu: chòu with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 臭 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type chou with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 臭 from the suggestions. Typing chou into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
臭 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.