忘 (wàng) · to forget

Meanings

1 to forget

Characters

忘

wàng

to forget

Heart radical 心 on the bottom - forgetting is a matter of the heart/mind

Examples

HSK 1

我忘了他的名字。

Wǒ wàng le tā de míngzi.

I forgot his name.

HSK 3

别忘了带伞。

Bié wàng le dài sǎn.

Don't forget to bring an umbrella.

HSK 3

这么重要的事，我怎么会忘呢？

Zhème zhòngyào de shì, wǒ zěnme huì wàng ne?

Something this important, how could I forget?

Tips

history

忘 combines 亡 (to perish/lose) and 心 (heart). When something is lost from your heart, you have forgotten it.

Components

radical

心 xīn

heart; mind

Bottom heart radical (Kangxi #61) in its full 4-stroke form - the indexing radical. Anchors the mental-state semantics: 忘 is what happens in the mind when something slips away (忘记 forget, 难忘 unforgettable, 忘恩负义 ungrateful). Same bottom-position 心 in 想, 念, 思, 怎 - the deeper-thought family.

phonetic

亡 wáng

lost; perish; gone

Top phonetic 亡 - supplies the sound, shifting tone to wàng. Beautifully self-reinforcing: 亡 itself means 'to lose, vanish, perish,' which doubles as semantic - the heart having lost something = forgotten. Same phonetic in 忙 (busy), 茫 (vast), 妄 (absurd), 望 (gaze) - a productive cluster.