浑

渾

hún

adjective #7,725

Meanings

1 muddy; turbid
2 foolish; muddleheaded
3 whole; entire (literary)

Characters

浑

hún

muddy; muddled; whole

Examples

河水很浑，看不到底。

Héshuǐ hěn hún, kànbúdào dǐ.

The river water is murky — you can't see the bottom.

他浑身都是泥。

Tā húnshēn dōu shì ní.

He was covered in mud from head to toe.

这个人浑浑噩噩地过日子。

Zhège rén húnhún'è'è de guòrìzi.

This person goes through life in a confused daze.

Tips

usage

浑 has two main uses: (1) 'muddy/muddled' as in 浑水 (muddy water), 浑浊 (turbid); (2) 'whole/entire' as in 浑身 (whole body), 浑然一体 (a seamless whole). Context determines the meaning.

culture

The idiom 浑水摸鱼 (húnshuǐ mōyú, 'fish in muddy waters') means to take advantage of a chaotic situation for personal gain.

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (radical form of 水)

Three-drops water radical — the indexing element. Original sense was 'water all churned up,' silt and clay stirred together so light cannot pass through. From there came 'muddy, turbid' (浑水 muddy water) and metaphorically 'confused' (浑然不知 completely unaware). Same family as 浊 turbid, 清 clear — the water-quality cluster.

phonetic

军 jūn

army (here phonetic)

Right 军 supplies the sound, drifting jūn → hún through j/h alternation. Faint semantic flavour: an army on the march kicks up dust and churns rivers as it fords them, producing 浑 water. Same phonetic in 挥, 辉, 晕.

Stroke Order

浑 hún

浑