猥 (wěi): lewd; obscene

Meanings

1 lewd; obscene
2 humble; lowly
3 many; numerous

Characters

猥

wěi

lewd; humble; numerous

Examples

他被指控有猥亵行为。

Tā bèi zhǐkòng yǒu wěixiè xíngwéi.

He was accused of indecent behavior.

猥琐的笑容让人感到不舒服。

Wěisuǒ de xiàoróng ràng rén gǎndào bù shūfu.

His sleazy smile made people uncomfortable.

古文中的猥字常作谦辞，意为不才。

Gǔwén zhōng de wěi zì cháng zuò qiāncí, yìwéi bùcái.

In classical writing, 猥 is often a humble self-reference meaning 'unworthy.'

Tips

usage

Modern Chinese sees 猥 mostly inside compounds: 猥亵 ('indecent / molestation'), 猥琐 ('sleazy / shabby in manner'). The classical 'humble' and 'numerous' senses are essentially literary archaisms now.

Components

radical

犭 quǎn

dog (radical form of 犬)

Dog radical on the left - the indexing radical. Originally 猥 meant the yelping bark of a dog; from that bestial sense the character drifted into 'base, lewd, vulgar' (low like an animal). The radical anchors it in the dog/animal family with 猖 (rampant), 狠 (cruel), 狡 (cunning), 狂 (mad).

phonetic

畏 wèi

fear

Right side 畏 supplies the sound (wèi to wěi with tone shift). 畏 originally depicted a fanged demon and means 'awe, dread,' which adds a faint moral coloring to the modern 'obscene' sense: the kind of thing that ought to be feared and shunned. Same phonetic seeds 喂 (feed/hello), 偎 (snuggle).