混 (hùn) · to mix; to blend; to mingle

Meanings

1 to mix; to blend; to mingle
2 to muddle through; to drift along; to get by
3 to pass off as; to sneak in
4 thoughtless; reckless

Characters

混

hùn

to mix; to muddle through

Examples

HSK 1

他在公司里混了好几年。

Tā zài gōngsī lǐ hùn le hǎo jǐ nián.

He drifted along at the company for several years.

HSK 3

别把这两种东西混在一起。

Bié bǎ zhè liǎng zhǒng dōngxi hùn zài yìqǐ.

Don't mix these two things together.

HSK 7-9

他混进了会场。

Tā hùn jìn le huìchǎng.

He sneaked into the venue.

Tips

usage

混 has a colloquial 'getting by' meaning: 混日子 (muddle through the days), 混得不错 (doing pretty well for yourself). It implies a casual, not very ambitious approach to life.

register

Second reading hún (a variant of 浑) survives mainly in the insult 混蛋 (scoundrel / bastard), where the tone shift signals the abusive register. The closely related 混账 keeps the regular hùn reading. For the bare meanings 'muddy / turbid / muddle-headed', use the separate character 浑.

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (radical form of 水)

Left indexing three-drops water radical - left-side variant of 水. Originally 混 described the muddy, churning state of water mixed with sediment; from "turbid water" came the abstract sense "to mix, blend, muddle." Anchors the char in the water family alongside 浊 (murky), 流 (flow), 浑 (turbid).

phonetic

昆 kūn

elder brother; multitude (here phonetic)

Right 昆 supplies the sound (kūn → hùn through Old Chinese k/h alternation). 昆 itself depicts 日 over 比 (two figures side by side), meaning "many, multitude" - lending a faint flavor of many things crowding together until they blur. Same phonetic family: 棍 (stick), 滚 (roll), 鲲 (fabled fish).