蹭 (cèng) · to rub against, to scrape, to freeload

Meanings

1 to rub against
2 to scrape
3 to freeload
4 to mooch

Characters

蹭

cèng

to rub; to scrape; to freeload

Examples

HSK 3

猫一直在我腿上蹭。

Māo yìzhí zài wǒ tuǐ shàng cèng.

The cat kept rubbing against my leg.

HSK 3

他总是来我家蹭饭。

Tā zǒngshì lái wǒ jiā cèng fàn.

He always comes to my house to mooch a meal.

HSK 6

车子蹭了一下墙壁。

Chēzi cèng le yíxià qiángbì.

The car scraped against the wall.

Tips

usage

蹭 has two common colloquial uses: physical rubbing/scraping and freeloading. 蹭饭 (mooch a meal), 蹭网 (use someone's Wi-Fi for free), and 蹭热度 (ride on something's popularity) are very common expressions.

register

蹭 in the freeloading sense is very colloquial and informal. It's common in everyday speech but rarely used in formal writing.

Components

radical

足 zú

foot (radical)

Left foot radical - the indexing radical. Anchors 蹭 in the movement family with 跑, 跳, 踢, 跨. Here it tags the original sense: dragging one's feet, scuffing them along the ground. Modern slang extends to 'mooching' - sneaking along on someone else's resources, scuffing into a meal or wifi connection without paying.

phonetic

曾 céng

once; ever

Right 曾 supplies the sound céng, an exact match with no drift. The 'once, formerly' sense plays no part in the meaning; pure sound peg. Same phonetic powers 增 to increase, 憎 to hate, 赠 to give, 缯 silk. Originally 曾 pictured a layered steamer, and many of its descendants share a faint 'stacking' flavour.