冥顽 (míng wán) — (pejorative, literary) stubbornly obtuse; thickheaded; unyielding

Definition

Literary, pejorative word meaning 'stubbornly dull or thickheaded' — stronger and more formal than everyday 固执, and used almost only in writing to condemn someone for being both stubborn and slow to understand.

verb
(pejorative, literary) stubbornly obtusethickheadedunyielding

Examples

  • ，。
    Tā zhēn shì míng wán bù líng, zěn me shuō dōu bù tīng.
    He is truly stubborn and obtuse; no matter what you say, he won't listen.
  • 冥顽。
    Zhè zhǒng míng wán de tài dù ràng lǎo shī hěn shī wàng.
    This kind of stubborn and obtuse attitude disappointed the teacher a lot.
  • 冥顽。
    Tā réng rán míng wán dì jiān chí cuò wù guān diǎn.
    He still stubbornly clings to his wrong views.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéSide by side

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

冥míngdark/ignorant
顽wánstubborn

「冥」 means dark or ignorant and 「顽」 means stubborn, together describing obtuse stubbornness.

Characters in this word

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

  • 冖冖mìcloth cover
  • 日日rìsun
  • 廾廾gǒngtwo hands

Originally, 冥 was made from 冖 (cloth cover), 日 (sun), and 廾 (two hands) to show darkness; the 廾 part later changed.

Open 冥 →

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 →

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