误

Tap the pinyin to hear it

mistake; error; to miss; to harm; to delay; to neglect; mistakenly

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

Phono-semantic compound (形声字)

讠 meaning “speech” + 吴 sound ( wú )

Components 讠吴

error · Heisig RSH #439

words + Heaven in your Mouth

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

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

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
运行时错误	yùn xíng shí cuò wù	run-time error (in computing)
两不误	liǎng bù wù	to neglect neither one
正误表	zhèng wù biǎo	corrigenda
误人子弟	wù rén zǐ dì	(of a lazy or incompetent teacher) to hamper students' progress; (of media) to propagate e…
不误	bù wù	used in expressions of the form 照[zhao4] + {verb} + 不誤\|不误[bu4 wu4], in which 照[zhao4] mean…
误区	wù qū	mistaken ideas; misconceptions; the error of one's ways
无误	wú wù	verified; unmistaken
误机	wù jī	to miss a plane
误会	wù huì	to misunderstand; to mistake; misunderstanding; CL:個\|个[ge4]
口误	kǒu wù	to misspeak; to get one's words mixed up; a slip of the tongue
误事	wù shì	to hold things up; to make a botch of things
误车	wù chē	to miss (bus, train etc)
误工	wù gōng	to be late for or absent from work; to disrupt one's work; to cause a holdup in the work; …
误点	wù diǎn	not on time; late (public transport, airlines); overdue; behind schedule; delayed
误作	wù zuò	to consider erroneously; incorrectly attributed to sb
误用	wù yòng	to misuse
正误	zhèng wù	true or false?; correct or incorrect; to correct errors (in a document)
误信	wù xìn	to falsely believe; to be mislead; to fall for (a trick etc)
误解	wù jiě	to misunderstand; misunderstanding
照买不误	zhào mǎi bù wù	to keep on buying (a product) regardless (of price increases, adverse publicity etc)

Characters sharing the sound component 吴 — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
吴 sound part	wú	one of several warring states; surname
虞	yú	anxious, concerned, worried
娱	yú	pleasure, enjoyment, amusement
俣	yǔ	big
蜈	wú	centipede