chún
noun #4,170

Meanings

  1. 1 lip
  2. 2 lips

Characters

Examples

HSK 2
Tā de zuǐchún hěn hóng.
Her lips are very red.
HSK 5
Tā yǎo le yǎo chún.
He bit his lip.

Tips

usage
is often used in compound words: 嘴唇 (lips), 唇膏 (lipstick), 唇语 (lip reading). On its own, is more literary; 嘴唇 is the everyday term.

Components

radical
kǒu
mouth
Bottom is the indexing mouth radical - a small square depicting the lips parted to speak or eat. It locks onto the body part it names: the lips frame the mouth, so the mouth radical sits beneath the phonetic top. Same family of mouth-anatomy and mouth-action chars: to kiss, throat, tongue, eat.
phonetic
chén
5th earthly branch; dragon hour (here phonetic)
Top supplies the sound - chén drifting to chún with regular nasal-coda shift. originally pictured a clam or shellfish opening its shell, which gives a faint visual fit with parted lips. Same phonetic spawns to shake, dawn, pregnant - though only and mussel keep the chún-rhyme.

Stroke Order

chún