糟

zāo

adjective HSK 5 #595

Meanings

Jīntiān de tiānqì zhēn zāo.

Today's weather is really terrible.

Shìqíng bèi tā gǎo zāo le.

He messed things up.

Zāo le! Wǒ wàng dài yàoshi le.

Oh no! I forgot to bring my keys.

Tā de shēntǐ zhuàngkuàng hěn zāo.

His physical condition is very bad.

usage

糟 as an exclamation (糟了！) means 'Oh no!' or 'Shoot!' — used when something goes wrong. 糟蹋 (zāotà) means 'to waste/ruin/spoil.'

memory

The character has 米 (rice) on the left — dregs from fermenting rice into wine. Something that's gone bad, like spoiled leftovers.

糟 zāo