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

HSK 1
Bié chuī le!
Stop bragging!
HSK 2
Fēng chuī de hěn dà.
The wind is blowing hard.
HSK 7-9
Tā huì chuī dízi.
He can play the flute.

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