蛮 (mán): barbarian, bullying, very

蛮 (mán) is a Chinese character meaning “barbarian.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亦 (structural) and 虫 (structural). It ranks #2035 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 蛮 like 亦 insects 虫. Its radical form 虫 (insect) appears in many related characters such as 蛋 (dàn, egg), 虽 (suī, although), 虫 (chóng, insect).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. barbarian
  2. bullying
  3. very

Etymology & Origin

蛮

ideographicLike 亦 insects 虫

Decomposition: ⿱亦虫 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Practice writing 蛮 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
野蛮adjectiveyě mánbarbarous
蛮荒adjectivemán huāngsavage
蛮横adjectivemán hèngrude and unreasonable
胡搅蛮缠phrasehú jiǎo mán chán(idiom) to pester endlessly
蛮不讲理phrasemán bù jiǎng lǐcompletely unreasonable
蛮干verbmán gànto act rashly
横蛮adjectivehèng mánsee 蠻橫|蛮横
蛮横无理phrasemán hèng wú lǐrude and unreasonable
野蛮人nounyě mán rénbarbarian
蛮子nounmán zibarbarian
蛮力nounmán lìbrute force
触斗蛮争chù dòu mán zhēngconstant bickering and fighting (idiom)
小蛮腰xiǎo mán yāoslim feminine waist
蛮皮adjectivemán pírecalcitrant
蛮缠verbmán chánto pester
19
Total compounds
63
As first character
16
As last character
21
As middle character

蛮 appears in 19 compound words: 63 as the first character, 16 as the last, and 21 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 蛮 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

夷yí
0.527746 co-occurrences
刁diāo
0.518180 co-occurrences
野yě
0.4792,754 co-occurrences
族zú
0.4231,480 co-occurrences
茫máng
0.41346 co-occurrences
娇jiāo
0.40838 co-occurrences
荆jīng
0.40798 co-occurrences
横héng
0.399220 co-occurrences
诸zhū
0.399252 co-occurrences
慰wèi
0.398126 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

蛮不讲理mánbùjiǎnglǐHSK 7+

rude and unreasonable

phrase
蛮横无理mánhèngwúlǐHSK 7+

rude and unreasonable

phrase

Showing 2 of 3 idioms containing 蛮.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个蛮字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gě mán zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

The character "蛮" had different meanings in ancient Chinese.

少数派Aug 2026

比如说最近和Barbie,还有和攻壳机动队联名的系列设计,还蛮能戳中我的审美的。

bǐ rú shuō zuì jìn hé B a r b i e , hái yǒu hé gōng qiào jī dòng duì lián míng de xì liè shè jì , hái mán néng chuō zhōng wǒ de shěn měi de .

For example, the recent collaborative designs with Barbie and *Ghost in the Shell* really speak to my sense of style.

少数派Aug 2026

这本书诞生的契机还蛮有趣的。

zhè běn shū dàn shēng de qì jī hái mán yǒu qù de .

The story behind this book’s creation is actually quite interesting.

爱范儿Aug 2026

第二排中央的“智能四电机行政中岛”也是一个蛮特别的配置。

dì èr pái zhōng yāng de zhì néng sì diàn jī háng zhèng zhōng dǎo yě shì yī gè mán tè bié de pèi zhì .

The “Smart Four-Motor Executive Center Console” in the center of the second row is also a rather unique feature.

Irna ChineseApr 2026

...对伊朗的声援与支持,以对抗美以对伊朗的野蛮侵略

. . . duì yī lǎng de shēng yuán yǔ zhī chí , yǐ duì kàng měi yǐ duì yī lǎng de yě mán qīn lüè

...solidarity with and support for Iran in the face of the brutal aggression against it by the United States and Israel

EttodayMar 2026

...决赛飙23分夺新人王!幸宇胜点赞说“真的蛮神”、首谈毕业计画

. . . jué sài biāo 2 3 fēn duó xīn rén wáng ! xìng yǔ shèng diǎn zàn shuō zhēn de mán shén , shǒu tán bì yè jì huà

...Scored 23 points in the final to win Rookie of the Year! Xingyu praised him, saying, "He's really amazing," and spoke for the first time about his post-graduation plans

Tatoeba

在教养上,他们可以说是和野蛮人差不多。

Zàijiào yǎng shàng, tāmen kěyǐ shuō shì hé yěmánrén chàbuduō.

In culture, they are on the same plane as savages.

Tatoeba

我们绝不会接受这些横蛮无理的要求。

Wǒmen juébù huì jiēshòu zhèxiē hèngmán wúlǐ de yāoqiú.

We mustn't give way to these impudent demands.

Tatoeba

这篇漫画在中国蛮火。

Zhè piān mànhuà zài Zhōngguó mán huǒ.

This manga is pretty popular in China.

Tatoeba

汤姆看起来蛮高兴的。

Tāngmǔ kànqǐlai mán gāoxìng de.

Tom looks quite happy.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced mán

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 蛮 (mán) mean in Chinese?
蛮 (mán) primarily means "barbarian." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2035 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 蛮 have?
蛮 is written with 12 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 蛮?
The radical associated with 蛮 is 虫 (insect). This radical appears in many characters related to insect.
What are the components of 蛮?
蛮 is composed of: 亦 (structural), 虫 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱亦虫 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 蛮?
Common words with 蛮 include: 野蛮 (yě mán, "barbarous"); 蛮荒 (mán huāng, "savage"); 蛮横 (mán hèng, "rude and unreasonable"); 胡搅蛮缠 (hú jiǎo mán chán, "(idiom) to pester endlessly"); 蛮不讲理 (mán bù jiǎng lǐ, "completely unreasonable"). There are over 19 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 蛮 (mán)?
Several characters share the pronunciation mán: 满 (Manchu ethnic group), 慢 (slow), 漫 (free), 瞒 (to conceal), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 蛮 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 蛮 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 蛮 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.