谬 (miù) · false; erroneous

Meanings

1 false; erroneous
2 absurd
3 mu (Greek letter Μ, μ)

Characters

谬

miù

false; erroneous; absurd

Examples

HSK 6

谬论害人不浅。

Miùlùn hàirén bù qiǎn.

Fallacies cause no small amount of harm.

HSK 7-9

这种说法完全是荒谬的。

Zhèzhǒng shuōfǎ wánquán shì huāngmiù de.

This claim is completely absurd.

Tips

usage

Usually appears in compounds rather than standalone: 荒谬 (huāngmiù, absurd), 谬论 (miùlùn, fallacy), 谬误 (miùwù, error). As a bound form, it adds a stronger tone of 'egregiously wrong' compared to neutral 错 (cuò, wrong).

register

Formal/literary register. In casual speech, people say 太离谱了 (tài lípǔ le, 'too outrageous') rather than using 谬.

Components

radical

讠 yán

speech (left-side radical of 言)

Left speech radical - the simplified two-stroke side-form of 言. It marks 谬 as a word about words: a verbal mistake, an absurd claim, a misstatement. Same family: 说 to speak, 话 talk, 误 to err, 谎 to lie - all left-讠 characters about the act of speaking.

phonetic

翏 liù

flying high; whistling wind (phonetic)

Right 翏 supplies the sound - liù drifting to miù via historical l/m alternation. 翏 pictures feathers (羽) atop a person, the wind whistling through them - a sense of empty, blown-about air that fits "absurd, baseless." Same phonetic appears in 缪 mistake and 戮 to slaughter.