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[di4 liu4] "sixth")), 等 (děng, to wait for).
Definitions
- stupid
- foolish
- silly
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 笨蛋 | bèn dàn | (mild insult) fool |
| 笨拙 | bèn zhuō | clumsy |
| 愚笨 | yú bèn | stupid |
| 笨重 | bèn zhòng | heavy |
| 蠢笨 | chǔn bèn | stupid |
| 呆笨 | dāi bèn | dimwitted |
| 粗笨 | cū bèn | awkward |
| 拙笨 | zhuō bèn | clumsy |
| 笨到家了 | bèn dào jiā le | extremely stupid |
| 大笨象 | dà bèn xiàng | (slang) elephant |
| 笨鸟先飞 | bèn niǎo xiān fēi | lit. the clumsy bird flies early (idiom) |
| 笨人 | bèn rén | fool |
| 笨头笨脑 | bèn tóu bèn nǎo | (idiom) stupid |
| 笨手笨脚 | bèn shǒu bèn jiǎo | clumsy |
| 心拙口笨 | xīn zhuō kǒu bèn | dull-witted and tongue-tied |
笨 appears in 25 compound words: 64 as the first character, 28 as the last, and 8 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.
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 . . .
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.
我也知道汤姆不很笨蛋的。
Wǒ yě zhīdào Tāngmǔ bù hěn bèndàn de.
I also know that Tom isn't stupid.
为什么我的兄弟是笨蛋？
Wèishénme wǒ de xiōngdì shì bèndàn?
Why is my brother stupid?
你这个人真是傻瓜一个，这么笨！
Nǐ zhège rén zhēnshi shǎguā yī gè, zhème bèn!
You really are an idiot. You're so stupid!
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 笨 (bèn) mean in Chinese?
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What is the radical of 笨?
What are the components of 笨?
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What characters sound the same as 笨 (bèn)?
Is 笨 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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