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糊涂 (hú tu) — confused, muddled, silly

Definition

糊涂 describes a temporary or habitual muddled state of mind — forgetful, mixed-up, unable to think clearly. Unlike 笨 or 愚蠢 (which judge a person's intelligence), 糊涂 points to a confused mental state and can sometimes be endearing or feigned (装糊涂).

adjective
confusedmuddledsilly

Examples

  • 糊涂，。
    Tā jīn tiān yǒu diǎn hú tu, zǒng shì wàng shì.
    He's a bit muddled today, always forgetting things.
  • ，。
    Bié zhuāng hú tu le, nǐ míng míng zhī dào zěn me zǒu.
    Stop pretending to be confused — you obviously know the way.
  • 糊涂，。
    Zhè jiàn shì wǒ yuè xiǎng yuè hú tu, hái shì wèn wèn bié rén ba.
    The more I think about this matter, the more confused I get — I'd better ask someone else.

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.

糊hú
涂tú

The two characters together express muddled confusion; neither '糊' nor '涂' carries this meaning alone.

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
米米mǐrice
Sound part声符shēngfú
胡
胡hú糊hú
Same sound today

糊 pairs 米 (rice) with 胡 (hú), which gives the sound. The 米 part relates to the meaning.

Open 糊 →

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shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
余
余yú涂tú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

涂 has 氵 on the left, a form of 水 meaning water, and 余 on the right for the sound.

Open 涂 →
Appears in
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