昏 (hūn): muddle-headed, twilight, to faint

昏 (hūn) is a Chinese character meaning “muddle-headed.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氏 (structural) and 日 (structural). It ranks #1551 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 昏 th sun 日 setting behind a village 氏. Its radical form 日 (sun) appears in many related characters such as 日 (rì, sun, day), 早 (zǎo, early, morning), 时 (shí, time, hour).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. muddle-headed
  2. twilight
  3. to faint

Etymology & Origin

昏

ideographicTh sun 日 setting behind a village 氏

Decomposition: ⿱氏日 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
昏迷verbhūn míto lose consciousness
昏倒verbhūn dǎoto faint
黄昏nounhuáng hūndusk
昏迷不醒hūn mí bù xǐngto remain unconscious
昏睡verbhūn shuìto sleep heavily (due to illness, fatigue etc)
头昏adjectivetóu hūndizzy
昏厥verbhūn juéto faint
昏暗adjectivehūn àndusky
昏昏欲睡adjectivehūn hūn yù shuìdrowsy
发昏verbfā hūnto faint
冲昏头脑phrasechōng hūn tóu nǎolit. to be muddled in the brain (idiom)
昏昏沉沉hūn hūn chén chén(idiom) dizzy
头昏脑胀phrasetóu hūn nǎo zhàng(idiom) to feel giddy
昏天黑地phrasehūn tiān hēi dìlit. dark sky and black earth (idiom)
昏花adjectivehūn huādim (eyesight)
44
Total compounds
45
As first character
23
As last character
32
As middle character

昏 appears in 44 compound words: 45 as the first character, 23 as the last, and 32 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 昏 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

迷mí
0.68712,714 co-occurrences
睡shuì
0.5301,544 co-occurrences
醒xǐng
0.5061,552 co-occurrences
倒dǎo
0.4892,925 co-occurrences
黄huáng
0.4892,970 co-occurrences
庸yōng
0.488650 co-occurrences
陷xiàn
0.4721,660 co-occurrences
梯tī
0.46611 co-occurrences
搬bān
0.45610 co-occurrences
院yuàn
0.44941 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (17)

晨昏定省chén hūn dìng xǐngHSK 7+

morning and evening visits to parents; cf 昏定晨省

phrase
冲昏头脑chōnghūn tóunǎoHSK 7+

to become dizzy (with desire, success, love, etc.); to turn one's head; to lose one's head

phrase
昏定晨省hūn dìng chén xǐngHSK 7+

seeing to bed in the evening and visiting in the morning (ancient filial duty)

phrase
昏昏沉沉hūn hūn chén chénHSK 7+

(idiom) dizzy

phrase
昏昏欲睡hūnhūnyùshuìHSK 7+

sleepy, drowsy

adjective
昏迷不醒hūn mí bù xǐngHSK 7+

to remain unconscious

phrase
昏天黑地hūntiānhēidìHSK 7+

in pitch darkness; pitch-dark; dazed; groggy

phrase
昏头昏脑hūntóuhūnnǎoHSK 7+

dizzy; fainting; addlebrained; addleheaded; muddleheaded; absentminded; forgetful

adjective
老眼昏花lǎo yǎn hūn huāHSK 7+

blurred vision of an old person (idiom)

phrase
利令智昏lìlìngzhìhūnHSK 7+

to be blinded by the lust for gains; to lose one's head because of greed

phrase
色令智昏sèlìngzhìhūnHSK 7+

sexual desire causes a person to lose their wits

phrase
头昏脑闷tóu hūn nǎo mènHSK 7+

fainting and giddy; one's head spins

phrase

Showing 12 of 17 idioms containing 昏.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

昏复一日,他坚持早起锻炼身体。

hūn fù yī rì , tā jiān chí zǎo qǐ duàn liàn shēn tī .

Day after day, he persisted in getting up early to exercise.

東方日報Feb 2026

青衣中年妇生活不开心 服药寻短昏迷

qīng yī zhōng nián fù shēng huó bù kāi xīn fú yào xún duǎn hūn mí

A middle-aged woman in green clothes lived unhappily and took medicine to find a short coma

StheadlineFeb 2026

...57岁 好友黄文标叫救护车 送院前已呈半昏迷状态

. . . 5 7 suì hǎo yǒu huáng wén biāo jiào jiù hù chē sòng yuàn qián yǐ chéng bàn hūn mí zhuàng tài

... 57-year-old friend Huang Wenbiao called an ambulance and was in a semi-coma before being sent to the hospital

StheadlineFeb 2026

天水围货车疑越线撼拖头 司机一度被困半昏迷

tiān shuǐ wéi huò chē yí yuè xiàn hàn tuō tóu sī jī yī dù bèi kùn bàn hūn mí

Tin Shui Wai truck suspected of crossing the line and shaking the tractor, the driver was trapped in a semi-coma for a while

StheadlineFeb 2026

珍惜生命|秀茂坪顺利邨45岁妇堕楼 昏迷送院抢救不治

zhēn xī shēng mìng xiù mào píng shùn lì 邨 4 5 suì fù duò lóu hūn mí sòng yuàn qiǎng jiù bù zhì

Cherish Life|A 45-year-old woman fell from a building in Shunli Estate of Sau Mau Ping and was sent to the hospital in a coma for rescue

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

东西问·马年说马丨赵艺博:海昏侯墓中的“马蹄金”缘何而来?

dōng xī wèn mǎ nián shuō mǎ 丨 zhào yì bó : hǎi hūn 侯 mù zhōng de mǎ 蹄 jīn yuán hé ér lái ?

East and West Questions: The Year of the Horse Says Horse丨Zhao Yibo: Where did the "horseshoe gold" in the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun come from?

Tatoeba

晚饭后她变得昏昏欲睡。

Wǎnfàn hòu tā biànde hūnhūnyùshuì.

She became drowsy after supper.

Tatoeba

在麻醉剂的作用下,他昏了过去。

Zài mázuìjì de zuòyòng xià, tā hūn le guòqù.

He lost consciousness under the influence of the anesthetic.

Tatoeba

你看起来昏昏沉沉。

Nǐ kànqǐlai hūnhūnchénchén.

You looked like you were dizzy.

Tatoeba

患者现在处于深度昏迷状态。

Huànzhě xiànzài chǔyú shēndù hūnmí zhuàngtài.

The patient is in a deep coma.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced hūn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 昏 (hūn) mean in Chinese?
昏 (hūn) primarily means "muddle-headed." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1551 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 昏 have?
昏 is written with 8 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 昏?
The radical associated with 昏 is 日 (sun). This radical appears in many characters related to sun.
What are the components of 昏?
昏 is composed of: 氏 (structural), 日 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱氏日 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 昏?
Common words with 昏 include: 昏迷 (hūn mí, "to lose consciousness"); 昏倒 (hūn dǎo, "to faint"); 黄昏 (huáng hūn, "dusk"); 昏迷不醒 (hūn mí bù xǐng, "to remain unconscious"); 昏睡 (hūn shuì, "to sleep heavily (due to illness, fatigue etc)"). There are over 44 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 昏 (hūn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation hūn: 婚 (marriage), 混 (to mix), 魂 (soul), 浑 (muddy). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 昏 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 昏 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 昏 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

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.