浑 (hún): muddy, turbid, brainless, foolish, (bound form) simple, natural

浑 (hún) is a Chinese character meaning “muddy.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 军 (phonetic). It ranks #1964 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 浑 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. muddy
  2. turbid
  3. brainless
  4. foolish
  5. (bound form) simple
  6. natural

Etymology & Origin

浑

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵军 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
浑身nounhún shēnall over
浑蛋hún dànvariant of 混蛋
浑浑噩噩phrasehún hún è è(idiom) muddleheaded
浑浊adjectivehún zhuómuddy
浑水摸鱼phrasehún shuǐ mō yúto fish in troubled water (idiom)
浑然不知hún rán bù zhīto be totally oblivious (to sth)
浑厚adjectivehún hòusimple and honest
浑然adjectivehún ráncompletely
浑圆adjectivehún yuánperfectly round
浑然天成phrasehún rán tiān chéngto resemble nature itself
浑然一体phrasehún rán yī tǐto blend into one another
浑身上下hún shēn shàng xiàall over
浑然不觉hún rán bù juétotally unaware
浑身解数phrasehún shēn xiè shùto give it your all
浑天说hún tiān shuōgeocentric theory in ancient Chinese astronomy
41
Total compounds
80
As first character
7
As last character
12
As middle character

浑 appears in 41 compound words: 80 as the first character, 7 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 浑 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

吐tǔ
0.6241,702 co-occurrences
浊zhuó
0.598285 co-occurrences
噩è
0.536152 co-occurrences
谷gǔ
0.5151,646 co-occurrences
颤chàn
0.42324 co-occurrences
仪yí
0.413256 co-occurrences
厚hòu
0.402254 co-occurrences
贺hè
0.402114 co-occurrences
圆yuán
0.398188 co-occurrences
搅jiǎo
0.39616 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

阿月浑子āyuèhúnzǐHSK 7+

pistachio

noun
浑然不知hún rán bù zhīHSK 7+

to be totally oblivious (to sth); to have no idea about sth

phrase
浑然天成húnrántiānchéngHSK 7+

a natural and seamless whole without a hint of artificiality

phrase
浑然一体húnrányītǐHSK 7+

to be one integrated mass; to be a unified entity

phrase
浑身解数húnshēnxièshùHSK 7+

all of one's skill; everything within one's power

phrase
浑水摸鱼húnshuǐmōyúHSK 7+

to take advantage of a crisis for personal gain; to fish in troubled waters

phrase

Showing 6 of 7 idioms containing 浑.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

清晨的浑面波光粼粼,倒映着岸边的柳树。

qīng chén de hún miàn bō guāng 粼 粼 , dǎo yìng zhe àn biān de liǔ shù .

The murky water glistened in the early morning light, reflecting the willow trees along the shore.

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

原本清澈的 溪流突然变浑浊 ,可能是上游暴雨将泥沙、石块带入水中,形成山洪、泥石流。

yuán běn qīng chè de xī liú tū rán biàn hún zhuó , kě néng shì shàng yóu bào yǔ jiāng ní shā , shí kuài dài rù shuǐ zhōng , xíng chéng shān hóng , ní shí liú .

The stream, which had been clear, suddenly turned murky—possibly because heavy rains upstream carried sediment and rocks into the water, causing flash floods and mudslides.

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

经过一整个夏天消耗,也容易出现白天犯困、浑身乏力、提不起精神等秋乏不适。

jīng guò yī zhěng gè xià tiān xiāo hào , yě róng yì chū xiàn bái tiān fàn kùn , hún shēn fá lì , tí bù qǐ jīng shén děng qiū fá bù shì .

After a whole summer of physical exertion, it’s common to experience symptoms of “autumn fatigue,” such as daytime drowsiness, overall weakness, and a lack of energy.

東方日報Feb 2026

娜扎内衣照曝光 浑圆美胸一览无遗

娜 zhā nèi yī zhào pù guāng hún yuán měi xiōng yī lǎn wú yí

Nazha's underwear photos are exposed, and the round and beautiful breasts are at a glance

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

浑水专栏│《夜王》想说的真正香港(浑水)

hún shuǐ zhuān lán yè wáng xiǎng shuō de zhēn zhèng xiāng gǎng ( hún shuǐ )

Muddy Waters Column│The Real Hong Kong that "Night King" wants to talk about (Muddy Waters)

三立新聞網Feb 2026

泫雅发辣照反击怀孕传言 浑圆测乳包不住

泫 yǎ fā là zhào fǎn jī huái yùn chuán yán hún yuán cè rǔ bāo bù zhù

HyunA posted a spicy photo to counter pregnancy rumors, and the round breast test could not be contained

Tatoeba

那个学生被老师盯着看,觉得浑身不自在。

Nàge xuésheng bèi lǎoshī dīng zhe kàn, juéde húnshēn bù zìzai.

The student became very nervous with the teacher watching him.

Tatoeba

我浑身都被雨水给淋湿了。你现在能不能开车来接我?

Wǒ húnshēn dōu bèi Yǔshuǐ gěi línshī le. nǐ xiànzài néng bù néng kāichē lái jiē wǒ?

I'm completely soaked from the rain. Can you drive over and pick me up right now?

Tatoeba

我宁愿到不喜欢的公司工作,也不想浑浑噩噩的又过一年。

Wǒ nìngyuàn dào bù xǐhuan de gōngsī gōngzuò, yě bù xiǎng húnhún'è'è de yòu guo yī nián.

I would rather work for any company than waste another year.

Tatoeba

我无论是什么东西也要记进笔记本里;没有了笔记本,我就会浑身不自在。

Wǒ wúlùn shì shénme dōngxi yě yào jì jìn bǐjìběn lǐ; méiyǒu le bǐjìběn, wǒ jiù huì húnshēn bù zìzai.

I write everything down; I feel uneasy without my notebook.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced hún

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 浑 (hún) mean in Chinese?
浑 (hún) primarily means "muddy." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1964 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 浑 and 辉?
浑 (hún) and 辉 (huī) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 氵 vs 车 (same 军 component).
How many strokes does 浑 have?
浑 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 浑?
The radical associated with 浑 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 浑?
浑 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 军 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵军 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 浑?
Common words with 浑 include: 浑身 (hún shēn, "all over"); 浑蛋 (hún dàn, "variant of 混蛋"); 浑浑噩噩 (hún hún è è, "(idiom) muddleheaded"); 浑浊 (hún zhuó, "muddy"); 浑水摸鱼 (hún shuǐ mō yú, "to fish in troubled water (idiom)"). There are over 41 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 浑 (hún)?
Several characters share the pronunciation hún: 婚 (marriage), 混 (to mix), 魂 (soul), 昏 (muddle-headed). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 浑 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 浑 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 浑 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.