p8nda
p8nda BETA
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夯

bèn / hāng
adjective

Meanings

  1. 1 clumsy; stupid (old variant of 笨)

Examples

小儿蠢夯，自幼失学。
Xiǎoér chǔn bèn, zìyòu shīxué.
The boy was dull-witted and dropped out of school early.
旧小说里夯有时写作笨，意思是笨拙。
Jiù xiǎoshuō lǐ bèn yǒushí xiě zuò bèn, yìsi shì bènzhuō.
In old novels 夯 is sometimes written for 笨, meaning clumsy.

Tips

history
Read bèn, 夯 is an old loan-spelling for 笨 (clumsy, stupid), found mostly in Ming and Qing fiction. It is dead in modern writing; use 笨 today.

Components

semantic
大 dà
big
大 on top pictures a big person. Combined with the force element below, it gives the meaning idea of a person putting their whole weight into pounding the ground.
semantic
力 lì
strength; force
力 is the strength element. Big body plus exerted force together depict the heavy labor of ramming earth, the core meaning of 夯.

Stroke Order

夯 bèn