烂 (làn) · rotten; decayed

Meanings

1 rotten; decayed
2 mushy; soft; well-cooked
3 terrible; awful

Characters

烂

làn

rotten; overcooked; messy

Examples

HSK 1

这个苹果烂了，不能吃了。

Zhège píngguǒ làn le, bùnéng chī le.

This apple is rotten, you can't eat it anymore.

HSK 4

这部电影太烂了！

Zhèbù diànyǐng tài làn le!

This movie is terrible!

HSK 7-9

把肉炖烂一点。

Bǎ ròu dùn làn yìdiǎn.

Stew the meat until it's very tender.

Tips

usage

As "terrible/awful" 烂 is very colloquial, common online. 烂片 = bad movie, 烂人 = terrible person, 烂大街 = extremely common, everywhere.

usage

The cooking sense is neutral or positive: 煮烂 (boil until soft). In most other contexts 烂 is strongly negative.

Components

radical

火 huǒ

fire

Left indexing fire radical - pictograph of flames rising. Anchors 烂 in the heat-and-cooking family alongside 烧 (burn), 烤 (roast), 烫 (scald). Rotting in classical thought was "fire-cooking from within": food breaks down because heat (or its equivalent) softens its structure. Also gives the secondary "brilliant, dazzling" sense (烂漫 brilliant glow).

phonetic

兰 lán

orchid (here phonetic)

Right 兰 supplies the sound (lán to làn with tone shift). The traditional 爛 had 蘭 (full orchid) on the right; the 1956 simplification trimmed it down to 兰. Pure phonetic role; the orchid meaning is unrelated. Same phonetic family: 拦 (block), 栏 (railing), 谰 (slander).