诨名 (hùn míng) — playful or mocking nickname; epithet

Definition

A traditional/literary word for a playful or mocking nickname — distinct from the everyday 外号 or 绰号, which are colloquial terms for nicknames in general.

noun
playful or mocking nicknameepithet

Examples

  • 诨名“”。
    Tā xiǎo shí hou yǒu gè hùn míng jiào "xiǎo pàng".
    He had a nickname in childhood called 'Little Fatty'.
  • 诨名。
    Zhè běn xiǎo shuō gěi měi gè jué sè dōu qǐ le hùn míng.
    This novel gives every character a nickname.
  • 诨名。
    Dà jiā sī xià dōu jiào tā nà ge bù hǎo tīng de hùn míng.
    Everyone privately calls him that unpleasant nickname.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

诨hùnjoking
名míngname

诨 refers to joking or mocking, and 名 means name, giving a playful nickname.

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 諢; 诨 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánspeech
Sound part声符shēngfú
軍
軍jūn諢hùn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 諢 pairs 言, meaning speech, with 軍, which gives the sound; the simplified 诨 is a later shorthand.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

名 puts 夕 (crescent moon) above 口 (mouth), showing a name spoken in the dark.

Open 名 →

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