chuī
verb HSK 2 #1,493

Meanings

  1. 1 to blow
  2. 2 to play (wind instrument)
  3. 3 to boast

Characters

Mouth radical + (to yawn/lack) — blowing air from the mouth.

Examples

Fēng chuī de hěn dà.
The wind is blowing hard.
Tā huì chuī dízi.
He can play the flute.
Bié chuī le!
Stop bragging!

Tips

usage
吹牛 (literally 'blow cow') is a common expression meaning 'to brag/boast'.

Components

radical
kǒu
mouth
Left is the indexing mouth radical — parted lips drawn as a small square. Anchors in the breath-and-speech family: pant, exhale, sing, mute. Tells the reader this verb is something done with the mouth before they decode the right side.
semantic
qiàn
yawn; open mouth
Right is a person leaning forward with mouth open and breath streaming out — same yawn radical seen in , , . Combined with the mouth on the left, the picture doubles down on the act of breath leaving the mouth: lips parted plus body bent forward to push air out. Pure compound ideograph, no phonetic role.

Stroke Order

chuī