氓

máng / méng
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 hoodlum; rogue; hooligan

Examples

HSK 5
Jǐngchá zhuā le yì huǒ liúmáng.
The police arrested a gang of hooligans.
HSK 7-9
Bié shuǎ liúmáng, búyào sāorǎo biérén.
Don't be such a rogue and stop bothering people.

Tips

usage
In this reading 氓 is bound to 流氓 (流氓), which means both 'hooligan/rogue' and the behavior of harassing or molesting someone (耍流氓 = 'to act indecently'). It is a common, fairly strong everyday insult.

Components

semantic
亡 wáng
to flee; to lose
亡 means 'to flee / be lost'. Combined with 民 (民, the people), the original picture is displaced wanderers - rootless people, which later colored the 'rogue/drifter' sense.
phonetic
民 mín
the people; phonetic
民 supplies the sound (mín shifting to máng) and adds meaning: the word originally referred to people, here uprooted ones.

Stroke Order

氓 máng