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混沌 (hùn dùn) — (noun) primordial chaos, the formless state before creation in Chinese cosmology; (noun) a state of innocence, naivety, or ignorance; (noun) a state of confusion, muddle, or unintelligibility

Definition

Literary noun: 'primordial chaos' (the formless state before creation) or a muddled, confused state. The first sense is the cosmological one from Chinese myth; the others are figurative uses for innocence or unintelligibility.

noun
primordial chaos, the formless state before creation in Chinese cosmologya state of innocencenaivetyor ignorancea state of confusionmuddleor unintelligibility

Examples

  • ，混沌。
    Zhōng guó gǔ dài shén huà rèn wéi, tiān dì wèi fēn zhī qián shì yí piàn hùn dùn.
    Ancient Chinese mythology holds that before heaven and earth separated, there was a vast primal chaos.
  • ，混沌。
    Zhè hái zi tiān zhēn làn màn, hái chǔ yú yì zhǒng hùn dùn de zhuàng tài.
    This child is innocent and carefree, still in a state of naive ignorance.
  • 混沌，。
    Tā de jiě shì yuè shuō yuè hùn dùn, dà jiā wán quán tīng bù dǒng.
    His explanation became more and more muddled, and everyone was completely lost.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

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

混hùn
沌dùn

The two characters carry no meaning of their own here; together they name primal chaos or confusion.

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
昆
昆kūn混hùn
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

混 pairs 氵 (water) on the left with 昆 on the right, which supplies the sound.

Open 混 →

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
氵Written in full as水shuǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
屯
屯tún沌
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 氵 is the water form; the right side 屯 gives the sound.

Appears in
Mythology & Folklore

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