蠢 (chǔn): stupid, sluggish, clumsy
蠢 (chǔn) is a Chinese character meaning “stupid.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 春 (phonetic), 虫 (semantic) and 虫 (semantic). It ranks #2145 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 蠢 worm. Its radical form 虫 (insect) appears in many related characters such as 蛋 (dàn, egg), 虽 (suī, although), 虫 (chóng, insect).
Definitions
- stupid
- sluggish
- clumsy
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 蠢 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 愚蠢adjective | yú chǔn | silly |
| 蠢货noun | chǔn huò | blockhead |
| 蠢事noun | chǔn shì | folly |
| 蠢驴 | chǔn lǘ | silly ass |
| 蠢人noun | chǔn rén | fool |
| 蠢材noun | chǔn cái | idiot |
| 蠢蠢欲动phrase | chǔn chǔn yù dòng | to begin to stir (idiom) |
| 蠢笨adjective | chǔn bèn | stupid |
| 可蠢 | kě chǔn | (dialect) unbearable |
| 蠢动verb | chǔn dòng | to wriggle |
| 蠢话noun | chǔn huà | foolish talk |
| 蠢才noun | chǔn cái | variant of 蠢材 |
| 犯蠢verb | fàn chǔn | to do sth stupid |
| 蠢汉 | chǔn hàn | fool |
| 蠢蛋 | chǔn dàn | fool |
蠢 appears in 16 compound words: 81 as the first character, 19 as the last, and 0 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 蠢 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
学习蠢字需要反复练习，才能写得工整。
xué xí chǔn zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .
Mastering the character "蠢" requires repeated practice to write it neatly.
揭批日本军国主义的历史源流与现实危害:蠢蠢欲动 借机复燃
jiē pī rì běn jūn guó zhǔ yì de lì shǐ yuán liú yǔ xiàn shí wēi hài : chǔn chǔn yù dòng jiè jī fù rán
Expose the historical origin and practical harm of Japanese militarism: ready to take the opportunity to rekindle
小摩担忧金融危机重演 批评同业“做蠢事”
xiǎo mó dān yōu jīn róng wēi jī chóng yǎn pī píng tóng yè zuò chǔn shì
Morgan Stanley is worried about the recurrence of the financial crisis and criticizes peers for "doing stupid things"
“有人在做蠢事”!摩根大通CEO戴蒙罕见预警:目前像...
yǒu rén zài zuò chǔn shì ! mó gēn dà tōng C E O dài méng hǎn jiàn yù jǐng : mù qián xiàng . . .
"Someone is doing stupid things"! JPMorgan Chase CEO Dimon rare warning: Currently like...
美最高法院推翻对等关税 川普批荒谬愚蠢
měi zuì gāo fǎ yuàn tuī fān duì děng guān shuì chuān pǔ pī huāng miù yú chǔn
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the reciprocal tariffs, and Trump criticized the absurdity and stupidity
...维多利亚的秘密”前老板:我当初太天真、愚蠢、轻信..
. . . wéi duō lì yà de mì mì qián lǎo bǎn : wǒ dāng chū tài tiān zhēn , yú chǔn , qīng xìn . .
... Victoria's Secret "Former boss: I was too naïve, stupid, gullible...
汤姆真是愚蠢，是吧？
Tāngmǔ zhēnshi yúchǔn, shì ba?
Tom is so stupid, right?
你应该为你的愚蠢感到羞耻。
Nǐ yīnggāi wèi nǐ de yúchǔn gǎndào xiūchǐ.
You should be ashamed of your folly.
愚蠢是智慧的缺乏。
Yúchǔn shì zhìhuì de quēfá.
Stupidity is a lack of intelligence.
我竟然蠢得被这么简单的谎话骗倒了！
Wǒ jìngrán chǔn de bèi zhème jiǎndān de huǎnghuà piàn dǎo le!
How foolish I was not to discover that simple lie!
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 虫 (worm) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 蠢 (chǔn) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 蠢 have?
What is the radical of 蠢?
What are the components of 蠢?
What are common words containing 蠢?
What characters sound the same as 蠢 (chǔn)?
Is 蠢 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 蠢 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.