Stupid, dull, foolish, idiotic, infatuated, dazed—meanings in Classical Chinese

1. Dull

With the bamboo radical, *Guang Ya* refers to the thin film inside bamboo; later it means a person who is simple-minded and lacks experience.
Core: Weak brain processing ability, but the hardware is not damaged; diligence can make up for clumsiness.
Representative: Guo Jing in Jin Yong’s works—slow to learn new things.

2. Silly

Born with poor “hardware”; the character is made up of “Xin” (“baby” head— the skull bones haven’t fused) and “Sui” (slow to act).
Close to the meaning of low IQ today; representative: Shagu in *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*.

3. Foolish

With “Chun” (spring) above and “Kun” (earth; insects) below (“Chun” over “Kun”), *Shuowen Jiezi* says it refers to insects moving; later it means blind, mindless action.
Essence: Low cognition; self-assured ignorance—like Jiumo Zhi who strongly practices the Yijin Jing recklessly and goes mad from “entering the demonic state” due to fire, while Dongguo the gentleman saves the wolf.
Everyday example: Knowing drunk driving is dangerous yet still breaking the law.

4. Foolish

“Xin” (heart) below and “Yu” (fish) above; since “Yu” is pronounced like “Yu” meaning “corner” (a secluded place), it refers to being stubborn and dead-set, or to a foolish monkey (such as a fool animal—like “shǎ pǎo zi,” a silly peacock-deer).
Representative: Yu Gong moving the mountains—doesn’t understand how to be flexible.
Special: The spirit of sticking it out to the end can be called great wisdom in apparent foolishness.

5. Infatuated

The “sickness” radical; under the traditional character is “Yi” (doubt/misgivings), referring to a confusing and unclear kind of illness.
Later it refers to being extremely fascinated with something—like Li Mochou being infatuated with love, Ouyang Feng being infatuated with martial arts, and Murong Fu being infatuated with restoring the country.

6. Dazed

Mouth on top and wood on bottom; it means speaking is as slow and dull as wood, wooden and unresponsive.
Slow to react to the outside world, or having no reaction—koalas are a concrete embodiment of this.

7. Summary

Foolish: blind, mindless action; Foolish: stubbornly set on one’s ways and doesn’t know how to adapt; Infatuated: extremely captivated; Dazed: slow to respond and wooden and taciturn; Silly: born mentally impaired; Dull: shallow experience and slow learning.