Chinese character 咼

It describes a crooked or slanted mouth.

Forms of 咼 occur in records from the Warring States period and on Qin-era bamboo slips, narrow pieces used as writing material. The Han dynasty dictionary 《說文解字》 records its seal-script form—an early formal writing style—and explains 咼 as 口, “mouth,” plus 冎, which supplies the sound. Later Chinese dictionaries also list it as a surname and an ancient state name. Japanese dictionaries list it as an uncommon kanji with several readings.

Why does 咼 appear inside other characters?

It can supply sound while other parts distinguish meaning.

Traditional characters such as 過, 禍, 窩, 鍋, 蝸, 媧, and 剮 use 咼 as a sound-bearing component; the other parts help distinguish each full character’s meaning. 咼 has 呙 as its simplified counterpart, but full characters can simplify differently: 鍋 becomes 锅, while 過 becomes 过.

How do I type 咼?

Choose 咼 in a traditional-Chinese input mode.

The Cangjie Chinese input method uses 月月口 (BBR) for 咼. If the candidates show 呙, switch the input mode to traditional Chinese. A square box means the active font lacks this character; choose a font that includes Chinese characters.