冥顽不灵 (míng wán bù líng) — stubbornly stupid, impenetrably thickheaded

Definition

A literary four-character idiom meaning 'obstinately dense' — calls someone both stubborn AND stupid, sharper than simply saying 笨.

idiom
stubbornly stupidimpenetrably thickheaded

Examples

  • 冥顽不灵，。
    Tā míng wán bù líng, shuō shén me dōu méi yòng.
    He is stubbornly stupid; no matter what you say, it's useless.
  • 冥顽不灵。
    Zhè zhǒng míng wán bù líng de rén gēn běn wú fǎ gōu tōng.
    This kind of impenetrably thickheaded person simply cannot communicate.
  • 冥顽不灵，。
    Lǎo shī jué de tā míng wán bù líng, yǐ jīng fàng qì le.
    The teacher thinks he is stubbornly stupid and has given up.

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.

冥顽stubborn
冥míngignorant顽wánstubborn
联合Side by side
不灵not clever
不bùnot灵língclever
偏正Modifier + head

冥顽 and 不灵 both describe stubborn dullness, so the whole means impenetrably thickheaded.

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 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

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 靈; 灵 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
玉玉yùjade
Sound part声符shēngfú
霝
霝líng靈líng
Same sound today

This note describes the traditional form 靈, not the simplified 灵: 霝 gives the sound, and 玉 (jade) is the meaning part.

Open 灵 →

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