胡涂 (hú tu) — confused, muddled | tongtong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

胡涂 is a variant spelling of 糊涂 (hútu), used in the same senses of 'confused / muddled' — both in thinking clearly and in a muddle-headed state.

adjective

confusedmuddled

Easily confused

，胡涂。
Tā hē duō le, yǒu diǎn r hú tu.
He drank too much and is a bit muddled.
胡涂。
Zhè ge wèn tí ràng wǒ hěn hú tu.
This problem makes me very confused.
胡涂，。
Bié zhuāng hú tu le, nǐ míng bai wǒ de yì si.
Don't play dumb — you know what I mean.

Single-morpheme word

构词法gòucífǎ

联绵liánmiánBound pair

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

胡 and 涂 have no independent meaning here; the pair forms the word for confused or muddled.

Sound-only characters

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú

⺼Written in full as肉ròumeat

Sound part声符shēngfú

古

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

胡 combines 古, which points to its sound, with ⺼ (肉), meaning meat or flesh.

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

氵余涂

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

余

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

涂 has 氵 on the left, a form of 水 meaning water, and 余 on the right for the sound.