晕倒 (yūn dǎo) — to faint, to swoon, to pass out

Definition

verb

to faintto swoonto pass out

Examples

，晕倒。
Tā tīng dào nà ge xiāo xi hòu, yí xià zi jiù yūn dǎo le.
After hearing that news, she immediately fainted.
晕倒。
Gāo wēn tiān qì lǐ yǒu rén zhòng shǔ yūn dǎo le.
Someone suffered heatstroke and fainted in the hot weather.
晕倒。
Tā yīn wèi dī xuè táng tū rán yūn dǎo zài dì shàng.
He suddenly collapsed from low blood sugar.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

晕yūnfaint

倒dǎofall

晕 means faint, and 倒 means fall, so the word describes falling into a faint.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 暈; 晕 is its simplified writing.

日軍暈

Meaning part形符xíngfú

日日rìSun

Sound part声符shēngfú

軍

軍jūn暈yùn

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

The traditional form 暈 first drew 日 (the sun) ringed by lines for a halo, and later paired 日 with the sound part 軍. The simplified 晕 is a later abbreviation.

Open 晕 →

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

亻到倒

Meaning part形符xíngfú

亻Written in full as人rén

Sound part声符shēngfú

到

到dào倒dào

Same sound today

倒 combines 亻 (person) with 到, which gives the sound.

Open 倒 →

Appears in