chún
adjective #15,218

Meanings

  1. 1 genuine
  2. 2 pure
  3. 3 honest

Examples

Zhège cūnzi de mín fēng hěn chún.
The customs of this village are very genuine.
Tā wéirén chún hòu lǎoshí.
He is an honest and sincere person.

Tips

usage
is literary and most commonly appears in compounds like 淳朴 (chúnpǔ, simple and honest) or (chúnhòu, sincere). Rarely used alone in modern speech.

Components

radical
shuǐ
water (radical form of 水)
Left water radical — three-stroke side-form of . As the indexing radical it carries a metaphor: originally meant deep, undiluted water, then 'pure, genuine, unadulterated' character. Same family: clear, dense, thinned, all using water as the figure for purity.
phonetic
xiǎng
to enjoy; offer (here phonetic)
Right supplies the sound — xiǎng drifting to chún through an old x/ch alternation. Originally pictured a tall ancestral hall where offerings were made; the same component drives (chún) pure wine, (chún) quail, (dūn) sincere, all sharing the chún/dūn family of readings.

Stroke Order

chún