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顽童 (wán tóng) — naughty child, urchin

Definition

Literary/literary-toned word for a mischievous child, often used affectionately or with a touch of humor. Less common in everyday speech than plain 调皮的孩子.

noun
naughty childurchin
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 顽童。
    Nà ge wán tóng yòu zài dǎo luàn le.
    That naughty child is causing trouble again.
  • ，顽童。
    Tā chuān zhuó pò yī fu, hǎo xiàng yí gè wán tóng.
    He wears ragged clothes, like an urchin.
  • 顽童。
    Lǎo shī duì nà ge wán tóng hěn tóu téng.
    The teacher finds that naughty child a real headache.

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.

顽wánnaughty
童tóngchild

The naughty quality describes the child, giving urchin.

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 頑; 顽 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
頁頁yèhead
Sound part声符shēngfú
元
元yuán頑wán
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 頑, 元 gave the sound and 頁 showed 'head'; the sense was 'a stubborn head'.

Open 顽 →

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

  • 䇂䇂䇂chisel
  • 見見jiànkneeling person with a huge eye

The form 童 comes from a pairing of 䇂 (a chisel) with 見 (a kneeling person with a huge eye), depicting a person having an eye gouged out.

Open 童 →
Appears in
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