窜 (cuàn): to flee; to scurry

Meanings

1 to flee; to scurry
2 to rush about; to dart around
3 to alter (a text); to tamper with

Characters

窜

cuàn

to flee; to scurry; to tamper

穴 (cave) + 串 (to string through) - darting through holes

Examples

老鼠到处乱窜。

Lǎoshǔ dàochù luàn cuàn.

The mice scurried around everywhere.

他吓得到处窜。

Tā xià de dàochù cuàn.

He was so scared he darted around everywhere.

火苗从窗户里窜出来了。

Huǒmiáo cóng chuānghu lǐ cuàn chūlái le.

Flames shot out from the window.

Tips

usage

窜 implies panicked, chaotic movement - animals fleeing, fire leaping, people running in terror. It also means 'to tamper with' in 篡改/窜改 (cuàngǎi). Don't confuse with 蹿 (cuān), which means to leap upward.

memory

穴 (cave/hole) + 串 (string/skewer) - imagine a rat threading through holes in a wall, scurrying from one to the next.

Components

radical

穴 xué

cave; hole

Top cave radical, five strokes - a roof with two splayed legs, a hole or burrow. Anchors 窜 as motion through a hole: to dart, scurry, flee into hiding. The traditional 竄 had a rat 鼠 inside; simplified 窜 substitutes 串. Same family: 突, 穿.

phonetic

串 chuàn

string of things; to skewer

Bottom 串 supplies the sound - chuàn drifting to cuàn with vowel shift. Originally 串 pictured two objects threaded on a stick, meaning 'string, skewer.' A creature darting through holes follows a strung-together path. Modern 窜 means flee, abscond, or (in editing) to insert/alter a text.