糟 (zāo) - dregs, sediment & poor quality

糟Tone 1

zāo ｜ 17 strokes ｜ radical:

悦丈

糟 · zāo

dregs, sediment;

poor quality;

rotten, spoiled;

in a mess;

to waste, to spoil

dregs, sedimentpoor qualityrotten, spoiled

Usage highlights

dregs of winerotten, spoiledmake a messpoor quality ricemuddled, chaoticterrible, awful

Synonyms

  • 坏— bad, spoiled
  • 烂— rotten, decayed
  • 差— poor quality

Antonyms

  • 好— good, excellent
  • 精— refined, essence
  • 优— superior, excellent

Usage & contexts

Examples

  • The wine has sediment (酒糟).
  • The food is rotten (食物糟了).
  • He made a mess of things (把事情搞糟了).
  • This is poor quality rice (糟米).

Collocations

  • dregs of wine(酒糟)
  • rotten, spoiled(糟了)
  • make a mess(搞糟)
  • poor quality rice(糟米)
  • muddled, chaotic(糟乱)
  • terrible, awful(糟糕)

Idioms

  • To pick the essence and discard the dross(取其精华，去其糟粕)
  • In a terrible mess(乱七八糟)
  • Waste and ruin(糟糠不厌)

Cultural background

FAQ
  • Originally referred to dregs left after brewing wine or fermenting grains.
  • Extended metaphorically to mean worthless, poor quality, or messy situations.
  • In traditional Chinese medicine and cooking, 'zao' (糟) is used in fermentation processes.

FAQ