轰 (hōng): to boom

Meanings

1 to boom
2 to blast
3 to shoo away
4 rumble

Characters

轰

hōng

to boom; to blast

Examples

外面轰的一声响了。

Wàimiàn hōng de yī shēngxiǎng le.

There was a boom outside.

他被轰出了教室。

Tā bèi hōng chū le jiàoshì.

He was driven out of the classroom.

Tips

usage

轰 has two main meanings: (1) onomatopoeia for a boom/rumble, (2) to drive someone away forcefully (轰出去 = drive out).

Components

radical

车 chē

cart; vehicle

Top radical 车 (cart) sets the scene: simplified from traditional 轟, which stacked three 車 to picture a noisy procession of carts. The modern simplified keeps just one 车 above with 双 (a pair) below — the trio of carts collapsed to one-plus-doubled. Retains the cart radical to preserve the 'rumbling vehicles' image.

semantic

双 shuāng

pair; double

Bottom 双 (a pair, simplified from 雙) stands in for the second and third carts of the original 轟. Together with 车 above it conveys 'cart plus a pair of carts' — three vehicles thundering past. The visual story explains why 轰 means 'rumble, boom, blast', whether of cannons, thunder, or applause.