10 most awesome triple-lapped Chinese characters

Chinese characters are one of the most ancient scripts in the world. There are no accurate statistics about the total number of characters, but there are nearly 100,000. In our daily life, only thousands of characters are often used.

汉字是世界上最古老的文字之一，它是记录汉语的书写符号。汉字的数量并没有准确数字，大约将近十万个，日常所使用的汉字只有几千字。

Here are the top 10 most awesome Chinese characters voted by Chinese netizens. If you are able to recognize at least 5 of them, you will be absolutely worth the title "master". Look at them carefully. How many of them do you know actually?

小编为您搜罗了网友评出的中国最牛的十个汉字，如果能认识五个以上，就绝对称得上大师了！仔细看看，你认识哪几个？

1. The most slippery character "鱻" (xiān) 

最滑的汉字"鱻

This character is composed of three "鱼" (yú), which on their own means "fish". It is the variant of "鲜", and is pronounced "xiān" as well. It referred to raw fish originally. Now, it means "fresh; bright and beautiful", and refers to delicious and seasonable food as well. 

三条鱼，味道鲜美。这个字读作"鲜"，同时，也是鲜的异体字。原指生鱼，解释为"新鲜"，"明丽"的意思，也指鲜美，应时的食物。

2. The most lively character "猋" (biāo)

最闹的汉字"猋"

The character is pronounced "biāo". "犬" in Chinese refers to dogs. In the character "猋", three dogs are connected together giving the appearance that they are running fast, so the character means "speedy; dashing". 

这个字读作"标"。三条狗纠缠在一起，象形字，表示狗奔跑的样子，引申一步，是迅速，飙升的意思。

3. The most violent character "麤"

最顶的汉字"麤"

As the variant of "粗", the character is pronounced "cū" as well. It is composed of a big "鹿" (deer) on the top and two small "鹿" at the bottom, as if they fight with one another forcefully. Thus, the character means "violence". 

这个字读"cū"，也是"粗"字的异体字。从字形上看，一头大鹿两头小鹿，死死地顶在一起，似乎彼此混搅，非常有力气。可是，实际只表达了动粗的意思。

4. The most smelly character "羴" 

最臭的汉字"羴"

As a variant of "膻", the character is pronounced "shān" as well. It is composed of three "羊" (sheep or goat). How would a person smell immediately after he or she leaves a flock of goats? Smelly, of course. There is an idiom in Chinese, "趋腥附膻" (qū xīng fù shān), which is a metaphor for "one's attachment to dignitary". "膻" is the smell of mutton.

这个字读"山"，也是"膻"的异体字。掉进羊群里还能闻见什么好味道啊?臊气!有句成语叫做"趋腥附膻"，所谓"膻"就是羊肉的味道。

5. The most sensitive character "毳" 

最敏感的汉字"毳"

The character is pronounced "cuī". Composed of three "毛", it refers to very fine hairs which help transmit senses to the human body. It is called "毳毛" medically, and is commonly known as "寒毛".

这个字读作"cuī"。三根毛指的是毛发。医学上专门有"毳毛"一词，指人体表面除头发、体毛、腋毛外，其他部位生的细毛，俗称"寒毛"。既然是"寒毛"就非常敏感，它代替人体传递冷热寒暑的细腻感觉。

6. The most cruel character "蠱" (gǔ) 

最残忍的汉字"蠱" 

The character is pronounced "gǔ". "虫" in Chinese refers to insects. In ancient times, Chinese people put insects in a container and let them fight with one another for amusement. The last surviving insect was often the most poisonous one, and called "蠱". 

这个字读"gǔ"。古人把许多有毒的虫子聚敛到一起，让它们彼此吞噬，互相残杀，最后剩下的就是"蠱"–这玩意性情残忍，毒性最烈，放在食物中，足以致人死命。

7. The most expensive character "赑" 

最昂贵的汉字"赑"

The character is pronounced "bì". "贝" in Chinese refers to a conch shell. Ancient Chinese people used conch shells as a form of currency. This character contains three "贝", so it obviously stands for very expensive and important things. 

这个字读"必"。"贝" 是"贝壳"的意思。古人用贝壳作为货币。这个汉字包含三个"贝"，足见它的昂贵。

8. The most rustic character "垚"

最土的汉字"垚"

The character is pronounced "yáo". It consists of three "土", which means "soil; earth", so it is called the most rustic Chinese character. In fact, it is commonly used to describe things that are extremely high (especially the mountains). 

这个字读"yáo"，由三个"土"组成，因而被称为最土的汉字。实际上，它经常用来形容某物很高，特别是形容山高。

9. The most powerful character "犇"

最具力量的汉字"犇"

As a variant of "奔", this character is pronounced "bēn" as well. A bull is powerful, leave alone "犇", which is composed of three "牛" (cattle). Actually, the character means "run; rush". 

这个字读"奔"，也是"奔"的异体字。一头牛就力大无穷了，何况三头牛成队列一起前进，那力量不言而喻了。这个字实际是"奔跑，急匆匆"的意思。

10. The most illicit character "姦" 

最色的汉字"姦"

The character is pronounced "jiān". It is composed of three "女". Similar to "奸", "姦" has a number of negative meanings, such as "to fornicate" and "to defile". It is of the strong erotic or intimate tone. 

这个字读"jiān"，由三个"女"组成。与"奸"同义，这个字具有很多不好的意思，比如"通奸"、"玷污"等等，这个字充满了色情和暧昧的情调。

The article is translated and editted by Chinlingo. Please indicate the source for any use, reproduction or transfer. 

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