蠢 (chǔn): stupid

Meanings

1 stupid
2 foolish
3 clumsy

Characters

蠢

chǔn

stupid; foolish

Examples

我做了一件很蠢的事。

Wǒ zuò le yī jiàn hěn chǔn de shì.

I did something really stupid.

别那么蠢，想想再说。

Bié nàme chǔn, xiǎngxiǎng zàishuō.

Don't be so stupid, think before you speak.

这是我见过最蠢的主意。

Zhè shì wǒ jiànguò zuì chǔn de zhǔyi.

This is the dumbest idea I've ever seen.

Tips

mistakes

蠢 is quite blunt and direct. It's stronger than 笨 (dumb/clumsy), which can sometimes be used affectionately. 蠢 is almost always negative and can be offensive.

Components

radical

虫 chóng

insect; worm

Lower-left insect radical — the indexing semantic. Pictures a coiled insect viewed from the side. The doubled 虫虫 below 春 evokes a swarm of bugs creeping out in spring — slow, mindless, wriggling — which gives 蠢 its modern senses 'foolish, stupid, clumsy'.

phonetic

春 chūn

spring (season)

Top 春 supplies the sound — chūn shifted only in tone to chǔn. Originally semantically apt too: 春 (spring) hints at insects awakening from winter dormancy. The pictograph of warming earth above evolved into the modern 春 shape.

semantic

虫 chóng

insect; worm

Lower-right insect — partner to its twin on the left. Reduplication 虫虫 = a swarm rather than a single bug. Doubling intensifies the sense of mindless, wriggling activity that underwrites the 'stupid, clumsy' meaning.