拗 (ào): intractable

Meanings

1 intractable
2 stubborn
3 contrary
4 (of words) hard to pronounce or read smoothly

Characters

拗

ào

stubborn; awkward; (also niù, ǎo)

Examples

这句话太拗口了。

Zhè jù huà tài ào kǒu le.

This sentence is really hard to say smoothly.

他脾气很拗，谁也劝不动。

Tā píqi hěn ào, shéi yě quàn bu dòng.

He's so stubborn nobody can talk him round.

Tips

usage

拗 has three readings: ào (stubborn; awkward — most common in writing, e.g. 拗口 'tongue-twisting', 拗脾气 'stubborn temper'), niù (dialectal: stubborn — 执拗 zhíniù), and ǎo (dialectal: to bend or break by twisting).

mistakes

Don't confuse with 抝 — that's a variant form of the same character. The compound 拗口 (àokǒu) 'awkward to pronounce' is the most everyday context you'll see this character in.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (left radical form of 手)

Left hand radical, side-form of 手 — three compressed strokes. The indexing element. Marks 拗 as a hand action: to bend, twist or break with force, or in extension to be stubborn (脾气拗 stubborn temperament). Family: 折, 扭, 抝 — the bend-and-break cluster.

phonetic

幼 yòu

young (here phonetic)

Right 幼 supplies the sound, drifting yòu → ào (or niù in the 'stubborn' reading) through irregular shift. Faint resonance: 幼 'young' connects to the green-stick imagery of a sapling being bent — young branches twist easiest. The phonetic is shared mainly across 拗's own variant readings.