妄 (wàng): absurd, fantastic, presumptuous

妄 (wàng) is a Chinese character meaning “absurd.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亡 (phonetic) and 女 (semantic). It ranks #2061 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 妄 woman. Its radical form 女 (woman) appears in many related characters such as 女 (nǚ, woman), 奶 (nǎi, grandmother, milk), 她 (tā, she).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. absurd
  2. fantastic
  3. presumptuous

Etymology & Origin

妄

pictophoneticwoman

Decomposition: ⿱亡女 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
妄想verbwàng xiǎngto attempt vainly
轻举妄动phraseqīng jǔ wàng dòngto act blindly without thinking (idiom)
狂妄adjectivekuáng wàngegotistical
狂妄自大phrasekuáng wàng zì dàarrogant and conceited
痴心妄想phrasechī xīn wàng xiǎngto be carried away by one's wishful thinking (idiom)
妄图verbwàng túto try in vain
妄自尊大phrasewàng zì zūn dàridiculous self-importance (idiom)
妄动nounwàng dòngto rush indiscriminately into action
妄自菲薄phrasewàng zì fěi bóto be unduly humble (idiom)
胆大妄为dǎn dà wàng wéidaring
妄称verbwàng chēngto make a false and unwarranted declaration
恣意妄为phrasezì yì wàng wéito behave unscrupulously
妄言nounwàng yánlies
虚妄adjectivexū wàngfabricated
妄语nounwàng yǔto tell lies
31
Total compounds
65
As first character
13
As last character
23
As middle character

妄 appears in 31 compound words: 65 as the first character, 13 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 妄 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

想xiǎng
0.5847,076 co-occurrences
狂kuáng
0.5371,414 co-occurrences
肆sì
0.430180 co-occurrences
防fáng
0.42810 co-occurrences
敢gǎn
0.421326 co-occurrences
症zhèng
0.409532 co-occurrences
勿wù
0.39496 co-occurrences
谬miù
0.38428 co-occurrences
虚xū
0.373146 co-occurrences
族zú
0.3721,096 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

痴心妄想chīxīnwàngxiǎngHSK 7+

to obsessively fantasize about something that cannot come true

phrase
胆大妄为dǎn dà wàng wéiHSK 7+

daring; presumptuous; daredevil

phrase
姑妄言之gū wàng yán zhīHSK 7+

to just talk for the sake of talking

phrase
狂妄自大kuángwàngzìdàHSK 7+

egotistical; wildly arrogant; self-important

phrase
轻举妄动qīngjǔ-wàngdòngHSK 7+

to act rashly and blindly

phrase
肆意妄为sì yì wàng wéiHSK 7+

see 恣意妄為|恣意妄为

phrase
妄生穿凿wàng shēng chuān záoHSK 7+

a forced analogy (idiom); to jump to an unwarranted conclusion

phrase
妄下雌黄wàng xià cí huángHSK 7+

to alter a text indiscriminately (idiom); to make irresponsible criticism

phrase
妄言妄听wàng yán wàng tīngHSK 7+

unwarranted talk the listener can take or leave (idiom); sth not to be taken too seriously

phrase
妄自菲薄wàngzìfěibó

to excessively see oneself as inferior; to look down upon oneself excessively

phrase
妄自尊大wàngzìzūndàHSK 7+

to be arrogant; to be self-important; to suffer from megalomania

phrase
恣意妄为zìyìwàngwéiHSK 7+

to act recklessly or arbitrarily without restraint

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个妄孩从小就展现出非凡的音乐天赋。

zhè gě wàng hái cóng xiǎo jiù zhǎn xiàn chū fēi fán de yīn lè tiān fù .

This prodigy displayed extraordinary musical talent from a young age.

少数派May 2026

不要妄图做零投入写作,出来的东西无一例外都是垃圾。

bù yāo wàng tú zuò líng tóu rù xiě zuò , chū lái de dōng xī wú yī lì wài dōu shì lā jī .

Don't even try to write without putting in any effort—the results will invariably be trash.

少数派May 2026

只是当你点燃了一团火,你就不要再妄想能控制它。

zhī shì dāng nǐ diǎn rán le yī tuán huǒ , nǐ jiù bù yāo zài wàng xiǎng néng kòng zhì tā .

But once you've lit a fire, don't even think about trying to control it.

StheadlineApr 2026

地勤人员躺飞机引擎前 网民质疑小休妄顾安全 机管局澄清称正进行维修

dì qín rén yuán tǎng fēi jī yǐn qíng qián wǎng mín zhì yí xiǎo xiū wàng gù ān quán jī guǎn jú chéng qīng chèn zhèng jìn háng wéi xiū

Ground crew member lies down in front of aircraft engine; netizens question whether the brief rest disregarded safety; Airport Authority clarifies that maintenance work was underway

BastillepostFeb 2026

...高强度运动可预防约6%死亡 印证中医“不妄作劳”运动延寿智慧

. . . gāo qiáng dù yùn dòng kě yù fáng yuē 6 sǐ wáng yìn zhèng zhōng yī bù wàng zuò láo yùn dòng yán shòu zhì huì

... High-intensity exercise can prevent about 6% of deaths, confirming the wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine to "don't work in vain" exercise to prolong life

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...装备出口 中方:坚决抵制日本新型军国主义妄动

. . . zhuāng bèi chū kǒu zhōng fāng : jiān jué dǐ zhì rì běn xīn xíng jūn guó zhǔ yì wàng dòng

... Equipment exports China: Resolutely resist Japan's new militaristic reckless actions

Tatoeba

你妄想。上床睡觉去!

Nǐ wàngxiǎng. shàngchuáng shuìjiào qù!

You're delusional. Go to bed!

Tatoeba

你不可以妄下结论。

Nǐ bù kěyǐ wàng xià jiélùn.

You must not jump to conclusions.

Tatoeba

他的演说十分狂妄。

Tā de yǎnshuō shífēn kuángwàng.

His speech is delirious.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 女 (woman) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced wàng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 妄 (wàng) mean in Chinese?
妄 (wàng) primarily means "absurd." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2061 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 妄 and 芒?
妄 (wàng) and 芒 (máng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 女 vs 艹 (same 亡 component).
How many strokes does 妄 have?
妄 is written with 6 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 妄?
The radical associated with 妄 is 女 (woman). This radical appears in many characters related to woman.
What are the components of 妄?
妄 is composed of: 亡 (phonetic), 女 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱亡女 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 妄?
Common words with 妄 include: 妄想 (wàng xiǎng, "to attempt vainly"); 轻举妄动 (qīng jǔ wàng dòng, "to act blindly without thinking (idiom)"); 狂妄 (kuáng wàng, "egotistical"); 狂妄自大 (kuáng wàng zì dà, "arrogant and conceited"); 痴心妄想 (chī xīn wàng xiǎng, "to be carried away by one's wishful thinking (idiom)"). There are over 31 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 妄 (wàng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation wàng: 忘 (to forget), 望 (full moon), 往 (to go (in a direction)), 王 (king or monarch), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 妄 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 妄 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 妄 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.