忙 (máng) · busy

Meanings

1 busy

Characters

忙

máng

busy

忄 (heart) + 亡 (to perish) - so busy your heart is dying

Examples

HSK 1

我今天很忙。

Wǒ jīntiān hěn máng.

I am very busy today.

HSK 2

他每天忙工作。

Tā měitiān máng gōngzuò.

He is busy with work every day.

HSK 3

你最近忙吗？

Nǐ zuìjìn máng ma?

Have you been busy recently?

Tips

history

忙 combines 心 (heart) and 亡 (to perish). When you're so busy your heart is dying - that's 忙.

culture

A common Chinese greeting is 你忙什么呢？(What are you busy with?) - it's casual small talk, like 'What's up?' in English.

Components

radical

忄 xīn

heart; mind (radical form)

Vertical heart radical on the left - the contracted form of 心. Marks 忙 as a feeling/mental-state word: being busy is described as a state of mind, not just an external schedule. The same radical anchors most emotion verbs: 怕 (fear), 快 (fast/happy), 情 (feeling), 慢 (slow).

phonetic

亡 wáng

to perish; flee

Right component supplies the sound: 亡 wáng → máng with onset shift (the m-/w- alternation comes from an Old Chinese cluster). Also contributes a vivid semantic flavour - 'so busy your heart is dying' - though it works purely phonetically in modern reading.