疯子 (fēng zi) — madman; lunatic; crazy person

Definition

noun
madmanlunaticcrazy person
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 疯子。
    Lù shang yǒu gè fēng zi zài zì yán zì yǔ.
    There's a madman on the street talking to himself.
  • 疯子。
    Tā gāo xìng dé xiàng fēng zi yí yàng yòu tiào yòu jiào.
    He was so happy he jumped and shouted like a lunatic.
  • 疯子，。
    Bié lǐ nà ge fēng zi, tā shuō de dōu shì hú huà.
    Don't mind that madman—everything he says is nonsense.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

疯fēngmad
子zǐ

疯 'mad' and 子 together refer to a person who is mad.

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 瘋; 疯 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
疒Written in full as病bìng
Sound part声符shēngfú
風
風fēng瘋fēng
Same sound today

The traditional form 瘋 pairs 疒 (illness) with 風 as a sound part; the simplified 疯 is a later shorthand, so its right side is not a historical sound part.

Open 疯 →

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

子 is drawn as a baby with a large head, arms stretched out, and legs wrapped in a blanket.

Open 子 →
Appears in
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