蠢 (chǔn) · stupid, foolish, clumsy

Meanings

1 stupid
2 foolish
3 clumsy

Characters

蠢

chǔn

stupid; foolish

Examples

HSK 1

我做了一件很蠢的事。

Wǒ zuò le yī jiàn hěn chǔn de shì.

I did something really stupid.

HSK 4

别那么蠢，想想再说。

Bié nàme chǔn, xiǎngxiǎng zàishuō.

Don't be so stupid, think before you speak.

HSK 4

这是我见过最蠢的主意。

Zhè shì wǒ jiànguò zuì chǔn de zhǔyi.

This is the dumbest idea I've ever seen.

Tips

mistakes

蠢 is quite blunt and direct. It's stronger than 笨 (dumb/clumsy), which can sometimes be used affectionately. 蠢 is almost always negative and can be offensive.

Components

radical

虫 chóng

insect; worm

Lower-left insect radical - the indexing semantic. Pictures a coiled insect viewed from the side. The doubled 虫虫 below 春 evokes a swarm of bugs creeping out in spring - slow, mindless, wriggling - which gives 蠢 its modern senses 'foolish, stupid, clumsy'.

phonetic

春 chūn

spring (season)

Top 春 supplies the sound - chūn shifted only in tone to chǔn. Originally semantically apt too: 春 (spring) hints at insects awakening from winter dormancy. The pictograph of warming earth above evolved into the modern 春 shape.

semantic

虫 chóng

insect; worm

Lower-right insect - partner to its twin on the left. Reduplication 虫虫 = a swarm rather than a single bug. Doubling intensifies the sense of mindless, wriggling activity that underwrites the 'stupid, clumsy' meaning.