出丑
chū choǔ · HSK 7
to be humiliated
🤡 chū choǔ sounds like CHEW CHOW — chewing loudly at a fancy dinner, total embarrassment
出 = go out, 丑 = ugly/shameful. Your ugliness goes OUT into the open for everyone to see. Like that moment your blunder becomes public and there is no taking it back.
出 — foot 止 emerging from enclosure 凵
出 is a pictograph showing a foot or plant stepping out of a hollow or enclosure, depicting the act of going forth. The original sense of 'coming out' or 'emerging' has remained stable since oracle bone script. It now broadly means 'to exit, go out, or produce.'
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.