绌 (chù): insufficient

Meanings

相形见绌，指相比之下显得不足。

Xiāngxíngjiànchù, zhǐ xiāngbǐ zhīxià xiǎndé bùzú.

"To look inadequate by comparison" means to seem poor when set beside something better.

和新款相比，旧手机相形见绌。

Hé xīn kuǎn xiāngbǐ, jiù shǒujī xiāngxíngjiànchù.

Compared with the new model, the old phone looks decidedly inferior.

usage

In modern Chinese 绌 appears almost only in 相形见绌, "to be put in the shade by comparison". Its older sense of crimson silk is no longer used.

radical

纟 sī

silk; thread

纟 is the silk radical 糸 in left-side form. The character first named a kind of dyed silk; the thread sense survives only in the radical of 绌.

phonetic

出 chū

to go out

出 supplies the sound (chū shifted to chù) and adds no meaning. The same phonetic appears in 黜 and 拙.

绌 chù