阿蒙 (Āméng): Amun / Amon / Amen (Egyptian de…

Meanings

1 Amun / Amon / Amen (Egyptian deity)
2 (idiom) 吴下阿蒙: someone of limited learning, used self-deprecatingly

Characters

阿

ā

(prefix for nicknames)

蒙

méng

cover; (here: Meng/Amun)

Examples

阿蒙是古埃及最重要的神之一。

Āméng shì gǔ Āijí zuì zhòngyào de shén zhī yī.

Amun is one of ancient Egypt's most important gods.

士别三日,当刮目相待,他已不是吴下阿蒙了。

Shì bié sān rì, dāng guāmù xiāngdài, tā yǐ bú shì Wúxià Āméng le.

After three days apart one should look anew — he is no longer the unlettered Meng of Wu.

Tips

history

Two unrelated meanings collide here. (1) 阿蒙 = Amun, the Egyptian sun-god of Thebes (also written Amen, Amon). (2) In classical Chinese 阿蒙 refers to 吕蒙, a Three Kingdoms general of Wu who was dismissed as illiterate ('吴下阿蒙', 'just plain old Meng of Wu') until he studied hard and astonished his peers — the source of 士别三日当刮目相看.