疯狂
fēngkuáng · HSK 5
insane
🤪 疯狂 = 疯 (mad) + 狂 (wild/uncontrolled)
Both characters use the 疒 sickness radical, framing madness as an illness. 狂 originally described a wild, rabid dog (犭 dog radical); paired with 疯, the compound stacks two words for derangement to mean frenzied or unhinged.
疯 — sickness radical 疒 + wind 风 (fēng, phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The outer 疒 marks illness, while 风 (wind) supplies the sound and an older medical idea: ancient Chinese medicine blamed sudden 'wind' invading the body for fits and madness. So 疯 came to mean crazy or insane.
狂 — dog radical 犭+ king 王
Originally written with 犬 (dog) as the semantic component and 㞷 as the phonetic, depicting a wildly running dog. The meaning extended from 'mad dog' to 'crazy, wild, unrestrained' in general. The modern form simplifies the right side to 王.