错
cuò
mistake
surname Cuo; wrong; bad; interlocking; complex; to grind; to polish; to alternate; to stagger; to miss; to let slip; to evade; to inlay with gold or silver
metal (钅) + past/worn (昔) = things gone wrong or misaligned
昔 originally depicted layered days piled up, suggesting the past or something worn and uneven. Metal (钅) that has become uneven or misaligned through time evokes the idea of things gone wrong or out of place.
你说的答案是错的，要再想一想。
nǐ shuō de dá àn shì cuò de， yào zài xiǎng yi xiǎng。
The answer you gave is wrong; you should think about it again.
这件事我确实做错了，我向你道歉。
zhè jiàn shì wǒ què shí zuò cuò le， wǒ xiàng nǐ dào qiàn。
I truly made a mistake in this matter; I apologize to you.
Words with 错
大错
dà cuò
blunder
听错
tīng cuò
to mishear
运行时错误
yùn xíng shí cuò wù
run-time error (in computing)
过错
guò cuò
mistake
错配
cuò pèi
to be mismatched
逻辑错误
luó ji cuò wù
logical error
错杂
cuò zá
mixed; jumbled
错乱
cuò luàn
in disorder
错开
cuò kāi
to stagger (times)
错位
cuò wèi
to be wrongly positioned; to be dislocated; to be misplaced
错别字
cuò bié zì
incorrectly written or mispronounced characters
错动
cuò dòng
to move relative to one another