瞎 (xiā): blind

Meanings

1 blind
2 blindly
3 aimlessly
4 groundlessly

Characters

瞎

xiā

blind; blindly

Examples

别瞎说！

Bié xiāshuō!

Don't talk nonsense!

他一只眼睛瞎了。

Tā yī zhī yǎnjīng xiā le.

One of his eyes went blind.

你别瞎操心了。

Nǐ bié xiā cāoxīn le.

Stop worrying for nothing.

Tips

usage

瞎 is very commonly used as an adverb meaning "blindly/randomly/without basis": 瞎说 (talk nonsense), 瞎猜 (guess randomly), 瞎忙 (busy for nothing), 瞎搞 (mess around). This colloquial usage is far more common than the literal meaning of "blind".

mistakes

Using 瞎 for "blind" can sound informal or blunt. The more respectful terms are 失明 (lost sight) or 视力障碍 (visual impairment).

Components

radical

目 mù

eye

Eye radical on the left — pictograph of an eye with the pupil drawn vertically. 瞎 means "blind" literally (no light reaching the eye) and idiomatically "in vain, randomly" (acting blindly). The radical is exact. Same eye radical heads 看 look, 眼 eye, 睡 sleep, 盯 stare — the sight family.

phonetic

害 hài

to harm; injure (here phonetic)

Right side 害 supplies the sound: hài drifted to xiā with regular h/x alternation in older Chinese. Carries strong semantic resonance: a 害 (harm, injury) to the eye is exactly what causes 瞎 (blindness). The two readings link in sense as well as sound — 瞎 is harm taking the form of darkness.