钝 (dùn): blunt

钝 (dùn) is a Chinese character meaning “blunt.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 钅 (semantic) and 屯 (phonetic). It ranks #3129 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 钝 metal. Its radical form 钅 (metal) appears in many related characters such as 金 (jīn, metal, gold), 钱 (qián, money), 银 (yín, silver, bank).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 钅 metal9 strokesFrequency #3129钅 semantic屯 phonetic

Definitions

  1. blunt

Etymology & Origin

钝

pictophoneticmetal

Decomposition: ⿰钅屯 (layout: left-right)

Components:钅semantic屯phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Practice writing 钝 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
迟钝chí dùnslow in one's reactions
愚钝yú dùnstupid
钝角dùn jiǎoobtuse angle
鲁钝lǔ dùnstupid
成败利钝chéng bài lì dùnsucceed or fail, sharp or blunt (idiom)
味觉迟钝wèi jué chí dùnamblygeustia
思想顽钝sī xiǎng wán dùnblunt thinking
钝器dùn qìblunt instrument (used as a weapon)
钝翅苇莺dùn chì wěi yīng(bird species of China) blunt-winged warbler (Acrocephalus concinens)
驽钝nú dùn(literary) dull
顽钝wán dùnblunt (instrument)
11
Total compounds
27
As first character
73
As last character
0
As middle character

钝 appears in 11 compound words: 27 as the first character, 73 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 钝 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

迟chí
0.6041,596 co-occurrences
锯jù
0.529270 co-occurrences
圆yuán
0.5081,032 co-occurrences
齿chǐ
0.490480 co-occurrences
愚yú
0.469276 co-occurrences
吻wěn
0.469432 co-occurrences
棱léng
0.454150 co-occurrences
端duān
0.4431,212 co-occurrences
尖jiān
0.440516 co-occurrences
磨mó
0.415270 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

成败利钝chéngbàilìdùnHSK 7+

success or failure; smoothness or setback

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

钝字在日常生活中使用频率较低。

dùn zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .

The character "鈍" is not used very often in everyday life.

SmzdmMar 2026

...世界:躺平也能通过pvp实现洛克贝自由?钝评公测细节改动

. . . shì jiè : tǎng píng yě néng tōng guò p v p shí xiàn Luò kè bèi zì yóu ? dùn píng gōng cè xì jié gǎi dòng

Character Family

钅 Radical Family — Characters sharing the metal radical

镑bàng铲chǎn钞chāo锤chuí锻duàn锋fēng钙gài钢gāng锅guō键jiàn

Related Characters

金jīn钱qián银yín铁tiě钢gāng铜tóng钟zhōng针zhēn错cuò钉dīng

Homophones — Characters pronounced dùn

炖dùn顿dùn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 钝 (dùn) mean in Chinese?
钝 (dùn) primarily means "blunt." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #3129 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 钝 and 纯?
钝 (dùn) and 纯 (chún) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 钅 vs 纟 (same 屯 component).
How many strokes does 钝 have?
钝 is written with 9 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 钝?
The radical associated with 钝 is 钅 (metal). This radical appears in many characters related to metal.
What are the components of 钝?
钝 is composed of: 钅 (semantic), 屯 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰钅屯 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 钝?
Common words with 钝 include: 迟钝 (chí dùn, "slow in one's reactions"); 愚钝 (yú dùn, "stupid"); 钝角 (dùn jiǎo, "obtuse angle"); 鲁钝 (lǔ dùn, "stupid"); 成败利钝 (chéng bài lì dùn, "succeed or fail, sharp or blunt (idiom)"). There are over 11 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 钝 (dùn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dùn: 炖 (to stew), 顿 (to stop). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 钝 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 钝 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.