萌 (méng): (bound form) to sprout, to bud, (coll.) cute, adorable (orthographic borrowing from Japanese 萌え "moe", affection for an anime or manga character)
萌 (méng) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) to sprout.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 艹 (semantic) and 明 (phonetic). It ranks #2681 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 萌 plant. 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) to sprout
- to bud
- (coll.) cute
- adorable (orthographic borrowing from Japanese 萌え "moe", affection for an anime or manga character)
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 萌 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 萌芽noun | méng yá | (of a seed) to germinate |
| 萌生verb | méng shēng | to burgeon |
| 萌发verb | méng fā | to sprout |
| 萌动verb | méng dòng | to sprout |
| 故态复萌phrase | gù tài fù méng | to revert to old ways |
| 旧态复萌 | jiù tài fù méng | see 故態復萌|故态复萌 |
| 防患未萌 | fáng huàn wèi méng | to prevent a disaster before the event (idiom) |
| 萌新noun | méng xīn | (neologism) (slang) newbie |
| 杜渐防萌 | dù jiān fáng méng | to nip in the bud |
| 复萌 | fù méng | to germinate again |
| 装萌 | zhuāng méng | (slang) to act cute |
| 萌古 | méng gǔ | (archaic) Mongol |
| 卖萌verb | mài méng | (slang) to act cute |
| 呆萌adjective | dāi méng | endearingly silly |
| 萌娃 | méng wá | cute little kid |
萌 appears in 17 compound words: 53 as the first character, 47 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 萌 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (4)
to prevent a disaster before the event (idiom); to nip sth in the bud
to return to one's old bad habits; to relapse into a former undesirable state
to prevent a disaster before the event (idiom); to nip sth in the bud
to return to one's old bad habits; to relapse into a former undesirable state
Example Sentences
萌字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。
méng zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .
The character "萌" has different usages in different contexts.
赵露思传执刘亦菲二摊 懒理是非骚香肩卖萌
zhào lù sī chuán zhí liú yì 菲 èr tān lǎn lǐ shì fēi sāo xiāng jiān mài méng
Zhao Lusi passed on Liu Yifei's second stall and was lazy to deal with right and wrong
...产下四宝“怎么那么痛”泪崩...爱女白皙萌样曝光
. . . chǎn xià sì bǎo zěn má nà má tòng lèi bēng . . . ài nǚ bái 皙 méng yàng pù guāng
... Giving birth to the four treasures "why is it so painful" tears broke down... The beloved daughter's fair-skinned and cute appearance is exposed
童言无忌威力强!萌娃拜年脱口“祝爷爷奶奶早生贵子” 全网笑...
tóng yán wú jì wēi lì qiáng ! méng wá bài nián tuō kǒu zhù yé yé nǎi nǎi zǎo shēng guì zǐ quán wǎng xiào . . .
Fairy tales are powerful! Cute baby New Year's greetings blurted out "I wish grandparents a good son soon" The whole network laughed...
...频|春节“营业”啦 都江堰的小熊猫集体卖萌
. . . pín chūn jié yíng yè lā dōu jiāng 堰 de xiǎo xióng māo jí tǐ mài méng
... The Spring Festival is "open" Dujiangyan's red pandas collectively sell cuteness
萌萌的“它”陪你度新春
méng méng de tā péi nǐ dù xīn chūn
The cute "it" accompanies you through the New Year
你觉得这个东西萌吗？
Nǐ juéde zhège dōngxi méng ma?
Do you think this thing is cute?
你的这双拖鞋很萌。
Nǐ de zhè shuāng tuōxié hěn méng.
Your pair of slippers are very cute.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 萌 (méng) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 萌 have?
What is the radical of 萌?
What are the components of 萌?
What are common words containing 萌?
What characters sound the same as 萌 (méng)?
Is 萌 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 萌 with real-time feedback
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