丑恶
choǔ è · HSK 7
ugly
🤢 CHOW on Evil food — ugly and repulsive
丑 (chǒu) means ugly, 恶 (è) means evil or bad. Together they intensify into repulsive. The sound chǒu è echoes chow + evil — a meal so bad it disgusts you.
丑 — hand 又 with claw-like nail strokes
丑 originally pictured a hand (又) with extended fingernails or claws gripping something, suggesting twisting or binding. It became the second Earthly Branch and a name for the ox in the zodiac. The modern 'ugly' meaning comes from later borrowing — it was adopted as the simplified form of unrelated 醜.
恶 — 亚 (yà) phonetic + 心 (heart) below
A semantic-phonetic compound: the heart radical 心 carries the meaning, while 亚 supplies the sound. Originally written 惡, it depicted a 'heart' beneath 亞, suggesting feelings of dislike or hatred. Over time it extended from 'to hate' (wù) to 'evil, bad' (è).