满 (mǎn) · full, satisfied, to reach (an age or limit)

Meanings

1 full
2 satisfied
3 to reach (an age or limit)

Characters

满

mǎn

full; filled

Contains 氵 (water radical) - water filled to the brim.

Examples

HSK 1

杯子满了。

Bēizi mǎn le.

The cup is full.

HSK 1

车上人很满。

Chēshàng rén hěn mǎn.

The bus is very full of people.

HSK 1

他满十八岁了。

Tā mǎn shíbā suì le.

He has turned eighteen.

Tips

usage

满 can mean physically full (水满了, the water is full), figuratively full (人很满, very crowded), or reaching a threshold (满了十八岁, turned 18).

Components

radical

氵 shuǐ

water radical

Left radical 氵 is the three-drop side-form of 水 (water). It marks 满 as a water-state: filled to the brim, water spilling over. Same water radical groups 满 with the liquid family - 河 (river), 海 (sea), 湖 (lake), 流 (flow) - and pinpoints 满 specifically as the 'fullness' state of liquid containment.

semantic

艹 cǎo

grass radical

Top-right 艹 here is the upper portion of the right-side phonetic 㒼 (mán). It sits as a 'grass cap' visually but historically belongs to a fused phonetic stack - together with 两 below it spells out the 'covered' sound. Recognising 艹 as the top of this phonetic block helps you read 瞒 (mán, deceive) and 蹒 (pán, stagger) the same way.

phonetic

两 liǎng

two; pair

Bottom-right 两 completes the 㒼 phonetic stack (艹 + 两 ≈ 㒼, mán). Sound is mán → mǎn in 满, a clean phonetic match by tone change only. Together with 艹 above, 两 supplies the 'covering, brimming' family of readings linking 满 (full to brim), 瞒 (cover up = deceive), and 蹒 (stagger as if covered).