zuì
adjective/verb HSK 5 #1,159

Meanings

  1. 1 intoxicated; drunk
  2. 2 to be fascinated; to be entranced

Characters

(wine vessel) + (soldier, finish): drink till finished.

Examples

HSK 1
Tā hē zuìle.
He got drunk.
HSK 2
Tā zuì de zǒu bù liǎo lù.
He was so drunk he couldn't walk.
HSK 7-9
Wǒ bèi zhè měijǐng táozuì le.
I was enchanted by this beautiful scenery.

Tips

usage
is used both literally (drunk from alcohol) and figuratively (entranced or intoxicated by beauty, music, etc.). 陶醉 means "to be intoxicated / entranced" in the figurative sense.
memory
The left side is the alcohol radical (a wine vessel). The right side is "soldier / pawn": a soldier who has had too much wine.
usage
喝醉 = to get drunk. 醉鬼 = drunkard. 醉驾 = drunk driving. 不醉不归 = "won't go home until drunk" (drinking toast).

Components

radical
yǒu
wine vessel; 10th earthly branch
Wine-vessel radical - pictograph of a sealed amphora of fermented liquid. Anchors in the alcohol/fermentation family along with wine, sour, sauce, sober-up, to pair. Without there is no drunkenness.
phonetic
soldier; to die; finish
Phonetic - zú to zuì (regular shift). has a faint semantic echo too: it means "to finish / die," and being drunk is the "death" of sober consciousness. Same phonetic in shatter, pure, gather, careworn - a tightly packed family.

Stroke Order

zuì