笨蛋 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

bèndàn HSK7

fool

bèn foolish

Phonosemantic compound. ⺮ represents the meaning and 本 represents the sound.

⺮ Meaning component

zhú bamboo

⺮ is a component form of 竹.

本 Sound component

běn root

Regular Modern

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	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	pɯːnʔ
	bɯːnʔ

《說文》：“笨，竹裏也。从竹，本聲。”

Phonosemantic compound. 虫 represents the meaning and 延 represents the sound.

yán delay

Change in sound

蛋 and 延 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Old Chinese.
蛋 l'aːns
延 *la[n]

虫 Meaning component

chóng bug, insect

	Old Chinese
Zhengzhang	l'aːns