错
wrong; mistake
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HSK level
- Pinyin
- cuò
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Level
- HSK 2
- Strokes
- 13
- Register
- neutral
- In episodes
- 1
Stroke order for 错
错 is written with 13 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
What does 错 mean?
错 (cuò) is the everyday word for 'wrong / incorrect / mistaken,' the opposite of 对 (duì, 'right').
As an adjective: 你错了 ('you're wrong'), 这个字错了 ('this character is wrong'). As a verb complement after action verbs, 错 marks that the action was done incorrectly: 写错 ('wrote it wrong'), 说错 ('said it wrong'), 走错 ('went the wrong way'), 拿错 ('picked up the wrong one'). This pattern is extremely productive — almost any action verb can take 错 to mean 'do X mistakenly.' As a noun, 错 means 'mistake / fault' and pairs with 是…的 to assign blame: 是我的错 ('it's my fault').
Crucial idiom: 不错 (búcuò) literally means 'not wrong' but actually means 'pretty good / not bad' — a positive review, not a neutral one. 这家餐厅不错 means 'this restaurant is good,' not 'this restaurant is okay.' Don't translate 不错 literally. The character also reads as 'wrong / interleaved' in the compound 交错 ('interlocking').
Memory hook: 错 = wrong. But 不错 ('not wrong') = pretty good. The double negative is more positive than 'okay' — Chinese understatement.
Hear 错 in real episodes
错 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
弟弟说：我没有做错事。
His brother said: I did nothing wrong.
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Example sentences
对不起，我错了。
Duìbuqǐ, wǒ cuò le.
Sorry, I was wrong.
spoken
你写错了一个字。
Nǐ xiě cuò le yí gè zì.
You wrote one character wrong.
neutral
这家饭店不错。
Zhè jiā fàndiàn búcuò.
This restaurant is pretty good.
spoken
没错，就是这里。
Méi cuò, jiù shì zhèlǐ.
That's right, this is the place.
spoken
我走错路了。
Wǒ zǒu cuò lù le.
I went the wrong way.
spoken
Common phrases with 错
Synonyms
不对 ('not right') is the most common spoken way to say something is wrong, often as a single-word reaction: 不对！ ('that's not right!'). 错 is the descriptive adjective: 这个答案错了 ('this answer is wrong'). Both common; 不对 reacts, 错 describes.
误 means 'mistake / err' but is more formal and appears in compounds: 错误 ('mistake'), 误会 ('misunderstanding'). 错 alone is the everyday spoken word; 误 is bound to compounds.
Don't confuse 错 with
对 is the antonym — 'right / correct.' Memorize as the 对/错 pair, just like English right/wrong. 你说得对 ('you're right') vs 你说错了 ('you said it wrong').
差 (chà) means 'poor in quality / lacking / bad' — for performance, condition, or amount (这个不太差 'this isn't too bad,' 还差五块 'still five yuan short'). 错 means 'wrong' as in incorrect. A bad essay is 写得不好 or 写得差; an essay full of errors is 写错了很多.
措 (cuò) means 'arrange / handle' and appears in compounds like 措施 ('measure / step'). Same pinyin and tone as 错, very different character and meaning. Strictly an eye / vocabulary trap, not an ear one.
Frequently asked questions
Related words from the same episodes
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