茫 (máng): vast, with no clear boundary, fig. hazy, indistinct

茫 (máng) is a Chinese character meaning “vast, with no clear boundary.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 汒 (phonetic). It ranks #1925 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 茫 grass. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 花 (huā, flower), 茶 (chá, tea), 菜 (cài, vegetable, dish).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. vast, with no clear boundary
  2. fig. hazy
  3. indistinct

Etymology & Origin

茫

pictophoneticgrass

Decomposition: ⿱艹汒 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
迷茫adjectivemí mángvast and indistinct
渺茫adjectivemiǎo mánguncertain
茫茫adjectivemáng mángboundless
茫然adjectivemáng ránblankly
白茫茫adjectivebái máng máng(of mist, snow, floodwater etc) a vast expanse of whiteness
苍茫adjectivecāng mángboundless
一脸茫然yī liǎn máng ránpuzzled
茫然失措máng rán shī cuòat a loss (idiom)
夜色苍茫yè sè cāng mánggathering dusk
苦海茫茫kǔ hǎi máng mángsea of bitterness is vast (idiom)
微茫adjectivewēi mánghazy
喝茫hē máng(slang) to get drunk (Tw)
前途渺茫qián tú miǎo mángnot knowing what to do next
混茫hùn mángdim
茫崖市máng yá shìMangnai, a county-level city in Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 海西蒙古族藏族自治州[Hai3 xi1 Meng3 gu3 zu2 Zang...
22
Total compounds
23
As first character
55
As last character
23
As middle character

茫 appears in 22 compound words: 23 as the first character, 55 as the last, and 23 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 茫 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

渺miǎo
0.734730 co-occurrences
苍cāng
0.542224 co-occurrences
迷mí
0.5211,241 co-occurrences
崖yá
0.462168 co-occurrences
蛮mán
0.41346 co-occurrences
荡dàng
0.38238 co-occurrences
昧mèi
0.37624 co-occurrences
雾wù
0.37628 co-occurrences
然rán
0.367752 co-occurrences
感gǎn
0.351316 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

渺渺茫茫miǎo miǎo máng mángHSK 7+

uncertain; unknown; fuzzy

phrase
暮色苍茫mù sè cāng mángHSK 7+

the hazy dusk of twilight (idiom)

phrase
前途渺茫qián tú miǎo mángHSK 7+

not knowing what to do next; at a loose end

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

茫字虽然难写,但意思很有趣。

máng zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .

The character "茫" may be difficult to write, but its meaning is quite interesting.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

阅读,成为她单调岁月里的微光,让她在迷茫中看见生活的另一种可能。

yuè dòu , chéng wéi tā dān diào suì yuè lǐ de wēi guāng , ràng tā zài mí máng zhōng kàn jiàn shēng huó de lìng yī zhǒng kě néng .

Reading became a glimmer of light in her monotonous life, allowing her to glimpse another possibility for life amid her confusion.

少数派Aug 2026

在我看来,有两点: 定义指标:当我们拿到一堆数据时,是茫然无措的。

zài wǒ kàn lái , yǒu liǎng diǎn : dìng yì zhǐ biāo : dāng wǒ men ná dào yī duī shǔ jù shí , shì máng rán wú cuò de .

In my view, there are two points: Defining metrics: When we’re presented with a pile of data, we’re at a loss.

少数派Jul 2026

一通洗完之后,环壁四顾心茫然,内心突然涌上了一阵寂寥。

yī tōng xǐ wán zhī hòu , huán bì sì gù xīn máng rán , nèi xīn tū rán chōng shàng le yī zhèn jì liáo .

After finishing his shower, he looked around the room in a daze, and a sudden wave of loneliness washed over him.

少数派Jul 2026

放心地写下你的纠结、犹豫、焦虑、迷茫,对他人的不满、愤怒,甚至是恶意。

fàng xīn dì xiě xià nǐ de jiū jié , yóu yù , jiāo lǜ , mí máng , duì tā rén de bù mǎn , fèn nù , shèn zhì shì è yì .

Feel free to write down your inner turmoil, hesitation, anxiety, and confusion, as well as your dissatisfaction with others, anger, and even malice.

SmzdmApr 2026

...抗皱选购指南,盘点有哪些效果好?抗老不迷茫!

. . . kàng zhòu xuǎn gòu zhǐ nán , pán diǎn yǒu nǎ xiē xiào guǒ hǎo ? kàng lǎo bù mí máng !

...Anti-Wrinkle Buying Guide: Which Products Work Best? Say Goodbye to Anti-Aging Confusion!

Tatoeba

我对以后做什么很迷茫。

Wǒ duì yǐhòu zuò shénme hěn mímáng.

I was puzzled about what to do next.

Tatoeba

他站在那里,一脸茫然。

Tā zhàn zài nàli, yīliǎnmángrán.

He was standing there with a vacant look.

Tatoeba

突然,从茫茫大雾中出现了一艘船。

Tūrán, cóng mángmáng dàwù zhōng chūxiàn le yī sōu chuán.

Suddenly, a ship appeared through the fog.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 艹 (grass) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced máng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 茫 (máng) mean in Chinese?
茫 (máng) primarily means "vast, with no clear boundary." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1925 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 茫 have?
茫 is written with 9 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 茫?
The radical associated with 茫 is 艹 (grass). This radical appears in many characters related to grass.
What are the components of 茫?
茫 is composed of: 艹 (semantic), 汒 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱艹汒 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 茫?
Common words with 茫 include: 迷茫 (mí máng, "vast and indistinct"); 渺茫 (miǎo máng, "uncertain"); 茫茫 (máng máng, "boundless"); 茫然 (máng rán, "blankly"); 白茫茫 (bái máng máng, "(of mist, snow, floodwater etc) a vast expanse of whiteness"). There are over 22 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 茫 (máng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation máng: 忙 (busy), 盲 (blind), 芒 (awn (of cereals)), 莽 ((bound form) dense growth of grass), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 茫 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 茫 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 茫 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.