滚 (gǔn): to boil (of water)

Meanings

1 to boil (of water)
2 to roll; to tumble
3 Get lost! (colloquial)

Characters

滚

gǔn

to roll; to boil; to get lost

Examples

HSK 5

滚！我再也不想见到你！

Gǔn! Wǒ zàiyě bù xiǎngjiàn dào nǐ!

Get lost! I never want to see you again!

HSK 6

水已经滚了，可以泡茶了。

Shuǐ yǐjīng gǔn le, kěyǐ pàochá le.

The water has boiled, you can brew tea now.

HSK 6

球从山坡上滚了下来。

Qiú cóng shānpōshàng gǔn le xiàlái.

The ball rolled down the hillside.

Tips

usage

滚 as "Get lost!" is very rude and aggressive. Only use it in anger or as a joke among very close friends. In drama/TV it's extremely common.

memory

The character has 氵 (water) + 衮 (rolling robes) - picture water rolling at a boil.

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water

Water radical on the left - three strokes evoking flowing droplets. Supplies meaning: 滚 originally described boiling/churning water (still alive in 滚水 boiling water and 滚开 boil over). From the rolling water came the broader sense of any rolling motion - 滚动 (roll), 滚出去 (get out, roll away), 翻滚 (tumble).

phonetic

衮 gǔn

imperial dragon-robe

衮 (gǔn) supplies the sound exactly, no tone shift. It pictures the dragon-embroidered ceremonial robe of an emperor - a niche standalone today, mostly seen in 衮服 and historical writing. Used here purely for sound; the meaning of churning/rolling is delivered entirely by 氵. Same phonetic appears in 鲧 (an ancient flood-tamer) but is otherwise rare.