吹

chuī

口 + 欠

HSK 2.0Level 5

HSK 3.0Level 4

Definitions

chuī (verb) to blow; to puff

chuī (verb) to play a wind instrument

chuī (verb) to boast; to brag

chuī (verb) to fail; to fall through

Etymology

Depicts blowing out air (欠) with the mouth (口).

Semantic: 口 Phonetic: 欠

About

吹 is an ideogram composed of the mouth radical 口 on the left and the component 欠 on the right, which portrays a person exhaling or blowing out air. This combination vividly represents the action of forcing air from the mouth: to blow. Its primary meaning encompasses the wind blowing, as well as human acts like cooling food with one's breath, playing a wind instrument, or inflating an object. Figuratively, it came to mean boasting, bragging, or talking big, equating empty, exaggerated claims to the production of mere hot air.

Etymology Hide

Oracle (~1250-1000 BC)

Bronze Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

风把叶子吹走了。

Fēng bǎ yèzi chuī zǒu le.

The wind blew the leaves away.

他喜欢吹口琴。

Tā xǐhuān chuī kǒuqín.

He likes to play the harmonica.

别吹电扇，小心感冒。

Bié chuī diànshàn, xiǎoxīn gǎnmào.

Don't sit in front of the fan, be careful of catching a cold.

我吹灭了生日蜡烛。

Wǒ chuī mièle shēngrì làzhú.

I blew out the birthday candles.

孩子们在草地上吹泡泡。

Háizimen zài cǎodì shàng chuī pàopao.

The children are blowing bubbles on the lawn.

他经常吹嘘自己的经历。

Tā jīngcháng chuīxū zìjǐ de jīnglì.

He often boasts about his experiences.

秋风把云彩吹散了。

Qiūfēng bǎ yúncai chuī sàn le.

The autumn wind scattered the clouds.

这个消息很快就被吹得神乎其神。

Zhège xiāoxi hěn kuài jiù bèi chuī dé shénhūqíshén.

This news was soon exaggerated to miraculous proportions.

Related Characters

Component: 口

Component: 欠

吹