弄 (nòng): to do

Meanings

1 to do
2 to handle
3 to play with
4 to fool with
5 to mess with
6 to fix

Characters

弄

nòng

play with; handle; do

Examples

你在弄什么？

Nǐ zài nòng shénme?

What are you doing?

别弄坏了！

Bié nòng huài le!

Don't break it!

我弄不明白这道题。

Wǒ nòng bù míngbái zhè dào tí.

I can't figure out this problem.

Tips

usage

弄 is a very versatile colloquial verb covering do, make, fix, get, or mess up — context picks the sense. Often paired with a result complement: 弄好 (fix/finish), 弄坏 (break), 弄丢 (lose), 弄清楚 (figure out).

mistakes

弄 has two readings: nòng (the everyday verb 'to do / handle / play with') and lòng (the noun 'lane / alley', mostly in Shanghai dialect, as in 弄堂 and 里弄). Outside those two lane-compounds, assume nòng.

Components

radical

廾 gǒng

two hands joined

Bottom two-hands radical — the indexing component. Pictures a pair of hands lifted side by side. Together with the jade above, the picture is hands cradling a precious stone, fiddling with it: "to play with, fiddle, mess around with, do (something)" — the semantic core of 弄.

semantic

玉 yù

jade

Top jade — pictures a string of jade discs. The original image of 弄 was a pair of hands holding a piece of jade up to admire it. Top 玉 here is a 4-stroke contraction (standalone is 5); the playful handling of jade is the core image.