xùn
adjective #20,755

Meanings

  1. 1 rapid
  2. 2 fast

Examples

Huǒshì xùnsù mànyán, dàjiā lìkè chèlí.
The fire spread rapidly, and everyone evacuated immediately.
Lǔ Xùn shì Zhōngguó zuì zhùmíng de xiàndài zuòjiā zhīyī.
Lu Xun is one of the most famous modern Chinese writers.

Tips

memory
(movement) + (rapid bird-flight) - moving so fast it's just a blur.

Components

radical
chuò
walking; motion (radical form of 辵)
Bottom-and-left is the walking radical - the compressed form of , picturing a foot in motion. Indexing radical, putting in the family of going-and-moving verbs ( enter, 退 retreat, welcome, chase). Carries the core meaning: names a speedy, swift motion, so the radical does the semantic work.
phonetic
xùn
swift; fly fast
Inner supplies the sound - xùn straight through, no drift - and is itself an archaic pictograph of a bird in rapid flight, so the phonetic doubles as a perfect semantic match: swift bird-flight plus the walking radical = rapid travel. Same phonetic family: news, flood-tide, train.

Stroke Order

xùn