漫

màn
adjective HSK 7-9 #10,114

Meanings

  1. 1 free; unrestrained; casual
  2. 2 to overflow; to flood; to spread

Examples

HSK 2
Tā hěn xǐhuan kàn mànhuà.
She really likes reading comics.
HSK 3
Màncháng de dōngtiān zhōngyú guòqù le.
The long winter has finally passed.
HSK 4
Tāmen zài gōngyuán lǐ mànbù.
They strolled in the park.

Tips

usage
漫步 (mànbù) = to stroll, 漫画 (mànhuà) = comics/manga, 浪漫 (làngmàn) = romantic.

Components

radical
氵 shuǐ
water (radical form of 水)
Three-drops water radical on the left, side form of 水. The indexing radical for 漫. Anchors the overflowing-water sense: 漫 first meant 'water spreading without bound,' from which came the modern senses 'free, aimless, comic strip (漫画)' - all about something unconstrained.
phonetic
曼 màn
drawn out; graceful
Right 曼 supplies the sound màn exactly, and contributes strong semantic flavour: 曼 means 'long, drawn out, lingering.' Water plus drawn-out gives the perfect picture of 漫 - slow, sprawling, boundless spread. Same phonetic appears in 慢 (slow) and 蔓 (creeping vine).

Stroke Order

漫 màn