窜 (cuàn): to flee; to scurry

Meanings

1 to flee; to scurry
2 to rush about; to dart around
3 to alter (a text); to tamper with

Characters

窜

cuàn

to flee; to scurry; to tamper

穴 (cave) + 串 (to string through) - darting through holes

Examples

HSK 5

老鼠到处乱窜。

Lǎoshǔ dàochù luàn cuàn.

The mice scurried around everywhere.

HSK 5

他吓得到处窜。

Tā xià de dàochù cuàn.

He was so scared he darted around everywhere.

HSK 7-9

火苗从窗户里窜出来了。

Huǒmiáo cóng chuānghu lǐ cuàn chūlái le.

Flames shot out from the window.

Tips

usage

窜 implies panicked, chaotic movement - animals fleeing, fire leaping, people running in terror. It also means 'to tamper with' in 篡改/窜改 (cuàngǎi). Don't confuse with 蹿 (cuān), which means to leap upward.

memory

穴 (cave/hole) + 串 (string/skewer) - imagine a rat threading through holes in a wall, scurrying from one to the next.

Components

radical

穴 xué

cave; hole

Top cave radical, five strokes - a roof with two splayed legs, a hole or burrow. Anchors 窜 as motion through a hole: to dart, scurry, flee into hiding. The traditional 竄 had a rat 鼠 inside; simplified 窜 substitutes 串. Same family: 突, 穿.

phonetic

串 chuàn

string of things; to skewer

Bottom 串 supplies the sound - chuàn drifting to cuàn with vowel shift. Originally 串 pictured two objects threaded on a stick, meaning 'string, skewer.' A creature darting through holes follows a strung-together path. Modern 窜 means flee, abscond, or (in editing) to insert/alter a text.