忽悠 (hū you) — to sway, to flicker, to flutter; to trick, to d… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

In modern spoken Chinese, 忽悠 almost always means 'to trick or con someone with smooth talk' (他把我忽悠了 = he conned me). The literal sense of swaying/flickering (lights, flags) is rare — 闪烁 covers twinkling light, 飘扬 covers a flag in the wind.

verb

to swayto flickerto flutterto trickto dupeto con

Examples

忽悠，。
Bié bèi tā hū you le, tā shuō de dōu bú shì zhēn de.
Don't be fooled by him — nothing he says is true.
忽悠。
Hú miàn shàng de dēng guāng qīng qīng de hū you zhe.
The lights on the lake surface flickered gently.
忽悠，。
Nǐ zhè shì zài hū you lǎo bǎi xìng, méi yǒu rén huì xiāng xìn de.
You're conning the ordinary people — no one will believe it.

Origin

Single-morpheme word

构词法gòucífǎ

联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

The characters 忽 and 悠 have no independent meaning in 忽悠; together they denote a wavering or deceptive action.

Sound-only characters

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

勿心忽

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

勿

勿wù忽hū

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

忽 combines 心, meaning heart, and 勿, used for its sound.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

攸心悠

Meaning part形符xíngfú

心心xīnheart; mind

Sound part声符shēngfú

攸

攸yōu悠yōu

Same sound today

悠 pairs 攸, which gives the sound, with 心, meaning heart or mind.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 7-9 Communication & Speech

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