没错
méi cuò · HSK 4
that's right
✅ 没 (not) + 错 (wrong) = not wrong = that's right
没 negates and 错 means wrong/mistake, so 没错 literally reads as 'not wrong' — a common way to confirm or agree in Mandarin, similar to saying 'no mistake' or 'correct' in English.
没 — water 氵 + 殳 (hand with weapon)
Originally depicted something sinking or being submerged in water, combining the water radical 氵 with 殳, suggesting a hand reaching into a whirlpool. The core sense was 'to sink, drown, disappear under water.' From there it extended to 'to vanish, not have,' giving the modern negative meaning 'not, have not.'
错 — metal radical 钅 + 昔 (xī, former times)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 钅(金) 'metal' gives the meaning, while 昔 supplies the sound. It originally referred to gilding or inlaying metal, then extended to 'interweave, alternate,' and from 'crossed/mixed up' came to mean 'wrong, mistaken.'