蹲 (cún) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

蹲

cún[cun2]Tone 2

to sprain one's foot or leg (dialect)

HSK 6

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · to sprain one's foot or leg (dialect)

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:19

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left component (足 foot radical) compact and slender on the left side, leaving ample room for the complex phonetic component 尊 on the right.

1. Meaning

to sprain one's foot or leg due to a sudden impact or landing (dialect)

to squat (common variant reading is dūn, but cún is used specifically in regional dialects for sudden jarring injuries to limbs)

VerbColloquial#body#injury#health#dialect

Sample Usage

走路不小心，脚给蹲了一下。
zǒulù bù xiǎoxīn, jiǎo gěi cún le yīxià.
I wasn't careful walking and sprained my foot.
从高处跳下来把腿给蹲了。
cóng gāochù tiào xiàlái bǎ tuǐ gěi cún le.
I jumped down from a high place and jarred/sprained my leg.

2. Sound

/[tsʰun³⁵]/Tone: 35

蹲

cúncun2

´(35)

=cún

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Dental Sibilant

Sounds like: ts sound like 'ts' in 'cats'

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Sharp burst of air through teeth! Tissue MUST flutter strongly.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches back of lower teeth, releasing a sharp burst of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -u vowel group

Sounds like: -oon sound like in 'moon' but with an unrounded u glide

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'wuhn'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 rises from a mid pitch to a high pitch, exactly like asking a question in English ('Huh?').

👂

Listening trap: Often confused with the standard Mandarin pronunciation 'dūn' (to squat), but 'cún' represents the specific dialectal application for jarring or spraining a limb.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture starting from chest level and arcing upward, mirroring the upward inquiry of Tone 2.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 19 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left component (足 foot radical) compact and slender on the left side, leaving ample room for the complex phonetic component 尊 on the right.

4. Components

Radical 足 · Foot Radical (Foot, leg, lower limb)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 足 (Indicates that the action involves the foot or leg (spraining or squatting).)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 尊 (original sound: zūn)

The foot radical (足) on the left pairs with the phonetic component 'to honor/respect' (尊) on the right to build the complex character for lowering the body or jarring the limbs.

足 Foot or leg (semantic indicator)
尊 Honored/respected person (phonetic indicator)

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

5· Phonetic Root: 尊 (zūn)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the foot radical (足) representing lower limbs and 尊 as a sound loan to represent the physical dropping action of the body or jarring impact.

Semantic Evolution: Originally denoting squatting or lowering the body posture, it developed regional dialectal senses such as jarring or spraining a foot or leg from a hard landing.

The character is most widely known in standard Mandarin as dūn (to squat), but the reading cún is a well-established regional phonetic variant for joint impact injuries.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

tôn

Standard Sino-Vietnamese reading maps to tôn, though dialectal application differs.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: ソン (son) / Kun: つくばう (tsukubau)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

존

Sound Shift Bridge: Shared ancient phonetic root 尊 (zūn/son/tôn).

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

You use your FOOT (足) to pay RESPECT (尊) by squatting down low, but if you land too hard, you might SPRAIN your foot or leg!

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

尊

zūnrespect, honoredWithout the foot radical, it is the base component meaning honorable.

遵

zūnto obeyUses the walking/movement radical (辶) instead of foot (足).

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

敦(dūn)

Has the enclosure/wan component (攵) on the right instead of 尊.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

他从树上跳下来，不小心把脚给[___]了一下。

Clue: cún

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the dialectal reading cún (sprain) with the standard Mandarin reading dūn (squat).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 蹲 read as cún in a dialectal sentence about a leg injury, what does it mean?

Production: How do you write the character for spraining your foot (cún) using the foot radical and the phonetic component for honor?

蹲cúnto sprain one's foot or leg (dialect)

Speed:

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