狂人 (kuáng rén) — madman, maniac (person who is insane); (derogat…

Definition

Literary/formal term for a 'madman' — a person who is insane or acts with wild, unbalanced extremism. More formal and literary than the everyday 疯子.

noun

madmanmaniac (person who is insane)(derogatory) an extremely arrogant or unbalanced person, a lunatic

Measure word · 个

狂人。
Nà ge kuáng rén rèn wéi zì jǐ shì huáng dì.
That madman thinks he is the emperor.
，狂人。
Tā nà zhǒng mù zhōng wú rén de tài dù, zhēn xiàng gè kuáng rén.
His arrogant attitude makes him really seem like a madman.
狂人。
Zhè xiē kuáng rén zhǔ zhāng jí duān de zhèng cè.
These fanatics advocate extreme policies.

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.

狂kuángmad/arrogant

“狂” gives mad or arrogant and “人” gives person, so the word means a mad person.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

犭Written in full as犬quǎndog

Sound part声符shēngfú

㞷

㞷㞷狂kuáng

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

狂 pairs 犭 (dog) with 㞷, which gives the sound; 㞷 is an old form of a character meaning 'to go'.

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Appears in