zuì
adjective/verb HSK 5 #1,159

Meanings

  1. 1 intoxicated; drunk
  2. 2 to be fascinated; to be entranced

Characters

(wine vessel) + (soldier, finish): drink till finished.

Examples

Tā hē zuìle.
He got drunk.
Búyào zuìjià.
Don't drink and drive.
Wǒ bèi zhè měijǐng táozuì le.
I was enchanted by this beautiful scenery.
Tā zuì de zǒu bù liǎo lù.
He was so drunk he couldn't walk.

Tips

usage
is used both literally (drunk from alcohol) and figuratively (entranced or intoxicated by beauty, music, etc.). 陶醉 means "to be intoxicated / entranced" in the figurative sense.
memory
The left side is the alcohol radical (a wine vessel). The right side is "soldier / pawn": a soldier who has had too much wine.
usage
喝醉 = to get drunk. 醉鬼 = drunkard. 醉驾 = drunk driving. 不醉不归 = "won't go home until drunk" (drinking toast).

Components

radical
yǒu
wine vessel; 10th earthly branch
Wine-vessel radical - pictograph of a sealed amphora of fermented liquid. Anchors in the alcohol/fermentation family along with wine, sour, sauce, sober-up, to pair. Without there is no drunkenness.
phonetic
soldier; to die; finish
Phonetic - zú to zuì (regular shift). has a faint semantic echo too: it means "to finish / die," and being drunk is the "death" of sober consciousness. Same phonetic in shatter, pure, gather, careworn - a tightly packed family.

Stroke Order

zuì