硬汉 (yìng hàn) — tough guy; man of iron | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A 硬汉 is a man admired for being tough, resilient, and unyielding in the face of hardship — more about inner grit and moral strength than physical hardness.

noun

tough guyman of iron

Measure word · 个

Examples

硬汉。
Tā zhēn shì gè yìng hàn.
He really is a tough guy.
硬汉。
Zhè bù diàn yǐng lǐ de zhǔ jué shì gè yìng hàn.
The protagonist in this movie is a tough guy.
硬汉。
Zhēn zhèng de yìng hàn bú pà kùn nan.
A real tough guy is not afraid of difficulties.

Origin

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.

'硬' means hard or tough and '汉' means man, so it denotes a tough man.

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.

石更硬

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

更

更gèng硬yìng

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

硬 is built from 石, meaning stone, to show hardness or stiffness, and 更, which gives the sound.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Appears in

Personality & Traits

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.