丢

丟
diū
verb HSK 3 #766

Meanings

  1. 1 to lose
  2. 2 to throw away
  3. 3 to put aside

Examples

HSK 4
Wǒ bǎ yàoshi diū le.
I lost my keys.
HSK 4
Bié bǎ lājī diū zài dìshang.
Don't throw garbage on the ground.
HSK 6
Tā diū le miànzi.
He lost face.

Tips

usage
丢 has both literal (lose an object, throw away) and figurative uses: 丢脸 (lose face), 丢人 (embarrassing), 丢三落四 (forgetful/scatterbrained).
mistakes
丢 (to lose/misplace) vs 扔 (to throw/toss). 丢 can mean either lose or throw; 扔 only means throw. When meaning "lose," use 丢 not 扔.

Components

ideograph
丿 piě
left-falling stroke (here: marker of dropping motion)
Top falling stroke - abstract marker depicting something slipping or falling away from the body. Carries the semantic action of 丢: a thing leaving its place. The slanted 丿 over 去 makes a transparent "going away from you" compound. Filed under Kangxi #1 一 (yī), though no horizontal radical is visibly present.
semantic
去 qù
to go; to leave
Bottom 去 (to go, leave) - provides both the imagery and a faint phonetic echo. The compound reads as "something dropping and going away," matching 丢's senses: to lose (丢了钱包 lost the wallet), to drop (丢垃圾 toss trash), to put aside, to lose face (丢脸). Standalone 去 is one of the most common motion verbs.

Filed under radical 一 (yī, #1) by convention. 一 is not a separate component in 丢, so no strokes are highlighted.

Stroke Order

丢 diū