涩

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astringent; tart; acerbity; unsmooth; rough (surface); hard to understand; obscure

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Formation & memory

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Ideographic compound (会意字)

Water 氵 that cuts like a knife 刃; 止 provides the pronunciation

Components 氵刃止

astringent · Heisig RSH #1669

水 water + 刃 blade + footprint

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
生涩	shēng sè	unripe; tart; not fully proficient; somewhat shaky
囊中羞涩	náng zhōng xiū sè	to be embarrassingly short of money
干涩	gān sè	dry and rough (skin); hoarse (voice); dry and heavy (style)
青涩	qīng sè	underripe; (fig.) young and inexperienced
酸涩	suān sè	sour; acrid; (fig.) bitter; painful
苦涩	kǔ sè	bitter and astringent; pained; agonized
冷涩	lěng sè	cold and sluggish; chilly
脱涩	tuō sè	to remove astringent taste
涩味	sè wèi	acerbic (taste); astringent
涩脉	sè mài	sluggish pulse
咸涩	xián sè	salty and bitter; acerbic
艰深晦涩	jiān shēn huì sè	abstruse and unfathomable (idiom)
羞涩	xiū sè	shy; bashful
拙涩	zhuō sè	clumsy and incomprehensible; botched writing
讷涩	nè sè	clumsy in speech; tongue tied
晦涩	huì sè	difficult to understand; cryptic
蹇涩	jiǎn sè	awkward; lame; difficulty (esp. in moving); not smooth