孟 (Mèng): surname Meng

Meanings

1 surname Meng
2 first month of a season
3 eldest among brothers (classical)

Characters

孟

Mèng

surname Meng; first of a season; eldest brother (classical)

Examples

HSK 7-9

孟是中国常见的姓氏之一。

Mèng shì Zhōngguó chángjiàn de xìngshì zhīyī.

Meng is one of the common Chinese surnames.

HSK 7-9

孟子是儒家思想的重要代表人物。

Mèngzǐ shì Rújiā sīxiǎng de zhòngyào dàibiǎo rénwù.

Mencius is an important representative figure of Confucian thought.

Components

radical

子 zǐ

child

Top child radical - pictograph of a swaddled infant, head and outstretched arms above, body wrapped below. The indexing radical here, supplying the meaning: 孟 originally meant 'eldest child / firstborn son', then 'first month of a season' (孟春 first spring, 孟夏 first summer), and finally became a surname carried most famously by the philosopher 孟子 Mencius.

semantic

皿 mǐn

vessel; dish

Bottom 皿 - pictograph of a footed bowl or shallow vessel seen from the side. Under the child above it gives the compound ideograph picture: an infant placed in or beside a ritual basin, the bathing ceremony marking the first-born's recognition. The 皿 grounds the eldest-child sense in a concrete domestic scene.

In Pop Culture

孟子 Mèngzǐ

Mencius

Mencius (c. 372-289 BC), a Confucian philosopher and one of the most important figures in Chinese philosophy. His sayings are collected in the 《孟子》, one of the Four Books of Confucianism.