谩 (mán): to deceive

Meanings

他谩得了上级，却谩不了百姓。

Tā mán de liǎo shàngjí, què mán bù liǎo bǎixìng.

He deceived his superiors but could not fool the common people.

用谎话谩人，迟早会被揭穿。

Yòng huǎnghuà mán rén, chízǎo huì bèi jiēchuān.

Using lies to deceive others will be exposed sooner or later.

usage

The mán reading means to deceive or dupe and is mostly classical. The everyday reading is màn, meaning to revile, as in 谩骂.

radical

讠 yán

speech

The speech radical, a left-side form of 言. It marks this as a word about speaking, here harsh and abusive talk.

phonetic

曼 màn

prolonged; graceful

Supplies the sound directly, 曼 giving màn. It contributes no meaning here; it is the purely phonetic part of this speech character.

谩 mán