蹿 (cuān): to spring up

Meanings

1 to spring up
2 to shoot upward
3 to dart
4 to jump up suddenly

Characters

蹿

cuān

to spring up; to shoot upward; to dart

Examples

猫一下子蹿上了屋顶。

Māo yīxiàzi cuān shàng le wūdǐng.

The cat leapt up onto the roof in an instant.

他的身高在这一年里蹿了好几厘米。

Tā de shēngāo zài zhè yī nián lǐ cuān le hǎojǐ lǐmǐ.

His height shot up by several centimeters this year.

价格突然蹿升，让消费者措手不及。

Jiàgé tūrán cuān shēng, ràng xiāofèizhě cuòshǒu-bùjí.

Prices suddenly shot up, catching consumers off guard.

Tips

usage

蹿 conveys a rapid, sudden upward movement or dramatic increase - like a cat leaping, a price surging, or a child growing fast. It always implies quickness and unexpectedness.

Components

radical

足 zú

foot

Left foot radical - a pictograph showing the lower leg above and the footprint below. The indexing radical, anchors 蹿 in the family of foot-action verbs: 跑 run, 跳 jump, 蹦 leap. Marks 蹿 as a forceful upward foot-motion - leaping, darting (a deer 蹿 across a field, a flame 蹿 up a wall).

phonetic

窜 cuàn

flee; scuttle

Right 窜 supplies the sound - cuàn shifting to cuān with tone change. 窜 itself depicts a rat (鼠) under a cave roof (穴) - a creature darting through holes. The shared image of sudden, scrambling movement makes this a rare case where the phonetic also reinforces the meaning. Simplified from traditional 躥; both sides were larger in the original.