Meaning of 昏
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- muddle-headed
- twilight
- to faint
- to lose consciousness
- old variant of 昏[hun1]
How to use 昏
昏 rarely stands alone in modern speech. It usually appears in words like 昏迷 (hūnmí, to be in a coma), 昏倒 (hūndǎo, to faint) and 黄昏 (huánghūn, dusk). Example: 他太累了，昏过去了。(Tā tài lèi le, hūn guoqu le.) He was so tired that he passed out.
昏 has 日 (rì, sun) at the bottom with 氏 on top, so picture the sun sinking low under the horizon. When the light goes dim, your head goes dim too, which is why 昏 means both dusk and feeling faint or muddled.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 昏 with 婚 (hūn, marriage), since they sound identical. 婚 has 女 (woman) on the left, and 结婚 (jiéhūn) means to get married, not to faint.
昏 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
昏 hūn · muddle-headed · 8 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 昏.
| 昏迷 | hūnmí | to lose consciousness; to be in a coma |
| 黄昏 | huánghūn | dusk; evening |
| 昏倒 | hūndǎo | to faint |
| 昏过去 | hūnguoqu | to faint |
| 昏睡 | hūnshuì | to sleep heavily (due to illness, fatigue etc) |
| 昏暗 | hūn'àn | dusky |
| 昏迷不醒 | hūnmíbùxǐng | to remain unconscious |
| 昏头 | hūntóu | to lose one's head; to be out of one's mind |
| 昏昏欲睡 | hūnhūnyùshuì | drowsy; sleepy (idiom) |
| 昏厥 | hūnjué | to faint |
Questions about 昏
What does 昏 mean?
昏 (hūn) means "muddle-headed; twilight" and is used as a verb.
How do you write 昏?
昏 is made of 1 character: 昏 (8 strokes). That is 8 strokes in total.
Is 昏 an HSK word?
Yes. 昏 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 昏迷 and 昏倒?
昏倒 (hūndǎo) describes the moment of fainting and falling down. 昏迷 (hūnmí) describes a state of being unconscious, often for a longer time, as in a coma.
How do I say I feel dizzy using 昏?
You can say 我头很昏 (wǒ tóu hěn hūn) or use the common phrase 头昏 (tóu hūn), meaning my head feels foggy or dizzy. It is milder than actually fainting.