亏 kuī to lose
to lose; to fail; luckily; fortunately; thanks to
How it came to be
The full form puts a tiger over a vessel: what a tiger leaves. The simple form dropped the tiger and kept three strokes, itself a fair picture of a loss.
How it is used
- 亏损 (kuīsǔn) is the business term for running a financial deficit.
- 吃亏 (chīkuī) is a very common colloquial idiom for "getting the short end of the deal" or being taken advantage of.
- 幸亏 and 多亏 (xìngkuī/duōkuī, "fortunately/thanks to") open a sentence to flag a narrow escape from a bad outcome: 幸亏你提醒我 (xìngkuī nǐ tíxǐng wǒ) - luckily you reminded me.