丢 (diū) is a Chinese character meaning “to lose (something)”. It is written from 丿 (left-falling stroke) and 土 (earth; soil) and 厶 (private component), one above the other, and takes 6 strokes.
Build the character for “to lose”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
丿 + 土 + 厶
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: Unicode U+4E22; modern decomposition candidate checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 stroke geometry
Memory aid
A stroke (丿) slides off the top, leaving only the ground (土) and a small curl (厶) underneath — whatever was up there has slipped away and is lost.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
6 strokes
In real words
- 丢失diū shīto lose; to go missing丢 = diū
- 丢掉diū diàoto throw away; to discard丢 = diū
Go deeper
All readings
to lose
to lose (something); to mislay; to throw away; to put aside
东西不见了；也指把东西扔掉、放下不管。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 丢失diū shīto lose; to go missing丢 = diū
- 丢掉diū diàoto throw away; to discard丢 = diū
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 丢 mean?
丢 (diū) means to lose (something); to mislay; to throw away; to put aside.
How do you pronounce 丢?
It is pronounced diū.
What parts is 丢 made of?
丿 (left-falling stroke) and 土 (earth; soil) and 厶 (private component), one above the other. The recorded source is: Unicode U+4E22; modern decomposition candidate checked against hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 stroke geometry. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 丢 have?
6. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 丢?
丿. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 丢?
Common ones are 丢失 and 丢掉. The reading of 丢 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.