莽 (mǎng): (bound form) dense growth of grass, (literary) vast, boundless, (bound form) boorish, reckless
莽 (mǎng) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) dense growth of grass.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (structural), 犬 (structural) and 廾 (structural). It ranks #2575 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 莽 a dog 犬 surrounded by weeds 艹, 廾. Its radical form 艹 (grass) appears in many related characters such as 花 (huā, flower), 茶 (chá, tea), 菜 (cài, vegetable, dish).
Definitions
- (bound form) dense growth of grass
- (literary) vast
- boundless
- (bound form) boorish
- reckless
Etymology & Origin
ideographicA dog 犬 surrounded by weeds 艹, 廾
Decomposition: ⿱艹⿱犬廾 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 莽 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 鲁莽 | lǔ mǎng | hot-headed |
| 莽撞adjective | mǎng zhuàng | rash |
| 卤莽adjective | lǔ mǎng | variant of 魯莽|鲁莽 |
| 莽汉noun | mǎng hàn | boor |
| 莽草noun | mǎng cǎo | Chinese anise (Ilicium anisatum, a shrub with poisonous leaves) |
| 王莽 | wáng mǎng | Wang Mang (45 BC-23 AD), usurped power and reigned 9-23 between the former and later Han |
| 草莽noun | cǎo mǎng | a rank growth of grass |
| 浪莽 | làng mǎng | vast |
| 粗莽 | cū mǎng | brusque |
| 苍莽adjective | cāng mǎng | boundless |
| 榛莽 | zhēn mǎng | (literary) luxuriant vegetation |
莽 appears in 11 compound words: 27 as the first character, 73 as the last, and 0 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 莽 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
莽字虽然难写，但意思很有趣。
mǎng zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .
The character "莽" may be difficult to write, but its meaning is quite interesting.
游戏里的少年依旧莽撞，游戏机前的少年早已长大。
yóu xì lǐ de shǎo nián yī jiù mǎng zhuàng , yóu xì jī qián de shǎo nián zǎo yǐ cháng dà .
The boy in the game is still reckless, but the boy sitting in front of the game console has long since grown up.
鲁莽的简化是工程的大敌。
lǔ mǎng de jiǎn huà shì gōng chéng de dà dí .
Rash oversimplification is the greatest enemy of engineering.
“做了我想做的”北捷随机杀人影片莽男留言 一审判决出炉
zuò le wǒ xiǎng zuò de běi jié suí jī shā rén yǐng piàn mǎng nán liú yán yī shěn pàn jué chū lú
“I did what I wanted to do”: First-instance verdict handed down in case of reckless man who posted video of random killing on Taipei Metro
洋洋着述传千古 莽莽干坤有几人──怀念陈耀南教授
yáng yáng zhe shù chuán qiān gǔ mǎng mǎng gān 坤 yǒu jī rén huái niàn chén yào nán jiào shòu
His vast writings will endure through the ages; how few such figures exist in this vast world—In Memory of Professor Chen Yaonan
肉身挡警车出勤!莽男呛“希望罚更多” 法官如愿重罚1万2千...
ròu shēn dǎng jǐng chē chū qín ! mǎng nán qiàng xī wàng fá gēng duō fǎ guān rú yuàn chóng fá 1 wàn 2 qiān . . .
The body blocks the police car from attendance! The reckless man choked "hoping to be punished more" The judge fined 12,000 as he wished...
她比较鲁莽的相信了他。
Tā bǐjiào lǔmǎng de xiāngxìn le tā.
It was reckless of her to trust him.
请原谅我的鲁莽。
Qǐng yuánliàng wǒ de lǔmǎng.
Please excuse me for being rude.
鲁莽的开车容易造成交通事故
Lǔmǎng de kāichē róngyì zàochéng jiāotōng shìgù
Reckless driving can easily lead to an accident.
他去年在事故中幸存了，可是他仍然很鲁莽地开车。
Tā qùnián zài shìgù zhōng xìngcún le, kěshì tā réngrán hěn lǔmǎng de kāichē.
He survived an accident last year, but still drives recklessly.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 莽 (mǎng) mean in Chinese?
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What is the radical of 莽?
What are the components of 莽?
What are common words containing 莽?
What characters sound the same as 莽 (mǎng)?
Is 莽 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 莽 with real-time feedback
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