笨 (bèn): stupid, foolish, silly
笨 (bèn) is a Chinese character meaning “stupid.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺮ (semantic) and 本 (phonetic). It ranks #2256 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 笨 bamboo. Its radical form 竹 (bamboo) appears in many related characters such as 笑 (xiào, to laugh), 第 (dì, (prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六 "sixth")), 等 (děng, to wait for).
Definitions
- stupid
- foolish
- silly
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 笨 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 笨蛋noun | bèn dàn | (mild insult) fool |
| 笨拙adjective | bèn zhuō | clumsy |
| 愚笨adjective | yú bèn | stupid |
| 笨重adjective | bèn zhòng | heavy |
| 蠢笨adjective | chǔn bèn | stupid |
| 呆笨adjective | dāi bèn | dimwitted |
| 粗笨adjective | cū bèn | awkward |
| 拙笨adjective | zhuō bèn | clumsy |
| 笨到家了 | bèn dào jiā le | extremely stupid |
| 大笨象noun | dà bèn xiàng | (slang) elephant |
| 笨鸟先飞phrase | bèn niǎo xiān fēi | lit. the clumsy bird flies early (idiom) |
| 笨人noun | bèn rén | fool |
| 大笨鸟 | dà bèn niǎo | (bird species of China) Malayan night heron (Gorsachius melanolophus) |
| 笨头笨脑phrase | bèn tóu bèn nǎo | (idiom) stupid |
| 笨手笨脚phrase | bèn shǒu bèn jiǎo | clumsy |
笨 appears in 26 compound words: 62 as the first character, 27 as the last, and 12 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 笨 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (7)
Example Sentences
笨字在日常生活中使用频率中等。
bèn zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ zhōng děng .
The word "笨" is used moderately frequently in daily life.
在全行业都在为纯虚拟的 AI 生成狂热时,苹果反倒花了大量“笨功夫”打磨实体质感。
zài quán háng yè dōu zài wéi chún xū nǐ de A I shēng chéng kuáng rè shí , píng guǒ fǎn dǎo huā le dà liàng bèn gōng fū dǎ mó shí tǐ zhì gǎn .
While the entire industry is caught up in the frenzy over purely virtual AI-generated content, Apple has instead put in a lot of “hard work” to refine the tactile quality of its physical products.
每场电影散场时,笨笨还会带来观影彩蛋,献舞一曲。
měi chǎng diàn yǐng sàn chǎng shí , bèn bèn hái huì dài lái guàn yǐng cǎi dàn , xiàn wǔ yī qū .
At the end of every movie, Benben also treats the audience to a special surprise—a dance performance.
不过他那笨拙的、略显固执的宅男性格,偶尔还是会在人际交往上,给他带去小麻烦。
bù guò tā nà bèn zhuō de , lüè xiǎn gù zhí de zhái nán xìng gé , ǒu ěr hái shì huì zài rén jì jiāo wǎng shàng , gěi tā dài qù xiǎo má fán .
However, his awkward, somewhat stubborn, and reclusive personality occasionally causes him minor problems in his interpersonal relationships.
笨珍警方捣破水路偷渡人蛇集团 捕涉吸毒5蛇...
bèn zhēn jǐng fāng dǎo pò shuǐ lù tōu dù rén shé jí tuán bǔ shè xī dú 5 shé . . .
Police in Bentong busted a human trafficking ring operating via waterways and arrested five traffickers suspected of drug use...
古曜〈笨蛋〉惊爆隐藏一段无私爱情故事“好好爱自己...
gǔ 曜 bèn dàn jīng bào yǐn zàng yī duàn wú sī ài qíng gù shì hǎo hǎo ài zì jǐ . . .
Gu Yao's "Fool" shocked and hid a selfless love story: "Love yourself...
愚笨的头脑使腿受苦。
Yúbèn de tóunǎo shǐ tuǐ shòukǔ.
A foolish head makes for weary feet.
这个箱子太笨重了无法携带。
Zhège xiāngzi tài bènzhòng le wúfǎ xiédài.
This box is too bulky to carry.
她过去参加派对,总是战战兢兢笨手笨脚的。
Tā guòqù cānjiā pàiduì, zǒngshì zhànzhànjīngjīng bènshǒubènjiǎo de.
She is always afraid of being a klutz when going to parties.
汤姆绝不是笨。他只是懒而已。
Tāngmǔ juébù shì bèn. tā zhǐshì lǎn éryǐ.
Tom's definitely not stupid. He's just lazy.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the ⺮ (bamboo) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 笨 (bèn) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 笨 have?
What is the radical of 笨?
What are the components of 笨?
What are common words containing 笨?
What characters sound the same as 笨 (bèn)?
Is 笨 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 笨 with real-time feedback
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