Chinese character 霉

霉 means mold or mildew; in some words, bad luck. In 发霉 and 霉味, it describes physical mold or its smell. In 倒霉 and 霉运, it describes misfortune. The word around it settles which sense applies.

《说文》, an old Chinese dictionary, glosses 黴 as things turning blue-black after prolonged rain. That older image of damp spoilage helps explain its later use in complaints about luck going bad.

When does 霉 mean bad luck?

In bad-luck compounds, it means misfortune. In 倒霉, 霉运, 霉气, and 霉头, it points to bad luck, a jinx, or a run of things going wrong. If someone writes 倒霉, respond to the setback they are describing; it is not a report about mold.

In Chinese writing, 黴 is a longer traditional form of the same mold-related word; 霉 is used in simplified Chinese and is also recorded as a variant.

How do I type 霉?

Use Mandarin Pinyin or Cangjie input. In a Mandarin Pinyin keyboard, type mei or méi and select 霉 from the candidates; the same spelling can return other characters. With a Cangjie Chinese input method, enter 一月人田卜, the shape-based code listed for this character.