Meaning of 闻
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- to hear
- news
- well-known
- famous
- reputation
- fame
- to smell
- to sniff at
- surname Wen
How to use 闻
In modern spoken Chinese, 闻 most often means to smell, while hearing is usually 听 (tīng). The older sense of hearing survives in words like 新闻 (xīnwén, news) and 闻名 (wénmíng, famous). Example: 你闻闻这个花。(Nǐ wénwen zhège huā.) Smell this flower.
闻 (wén) is an ear 耳 inside a door 门. Picture someone pressing an ear to a door to hear what is going on inside, and catching news.
Common mistake: Learners often use 闻 for listening, as in 闻音乐, but the natural phrase is 听音乐 (tīng yīnyuè). Also do not confuse 闻 with 问 (wèn, to ask), which has a mouth 口 inside the door and a fourth tone.
闻 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.
闻 wén · to hear · 9 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 闻.
| 新闻 | xīnwén | news |
| 传闻 | chuánwén | rumor |
| 丑闻 | chǒuwén | scandal |
| 闻名 | wénmíng | well-known; famous |
| 绯闻 | fēiwén | sex scandal |
| 骇人听闻 | hàiréntīngwén | shocking; horrifying |
| 默默无闻 | mòmò-wúwén | (idiom) unknown; unrenowned |
| 耳闻目睹 | ěrwén-mùdǔ | to witness personally |
| 孤陋寡闻 | gūlòu-guǎwén | ignorant and inexperienced; ill-informed and narrow-minded |
| 举世闻名 | jǔshì-wénmíng | world-famous (idiom) |
| 远近闻名 | yuǎnjìn-wénmíng | to be known far and wide; to be well-known |
| 闻到 | wéndào | to smell; to sniff sth out |
Questions about 闻
What does 闻 mean?
闻 (wén) means "to hear; news" and is used as a verb.
How do you write 闻?
闻 is made of 1 character: 闻 (9 strokes). That is 9 strokes in total.
Is 闻 an HSK word?
Yes. 闻 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 闻 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 闻 is written 聞.
How do you say something smells good in Chinese?
You can say 很好闻 (hěn hǎowén), as in 这个香水很好闻, meaning this perfume smells nice. For food, people usually say 很香 (hěn xiāng).
Why does 闻 mean both hear and smell?
The dictionary lists both senses, with hearing found in older words like 新闻 and 闻名. In everyday speech today, the smell meaning is the one you will use most, as in 闻一闻 (wén yi wén), take a sniff.