盎 (àng): abundant

Meanings

1 abundant
2 brimming
3 overflowing

Characters

盎

àng

ancient earthenware pot; brimming; abundant

Examples

春意盎然，令人心旷神怡。

Chūnyì'àngrán, lìngrén xīnkuàng-shényí.

Spring is in full bloom, making one feel relaxed and happy.

这首诗充满了生机盎然的气息。

Zhè shǒu shī chōngmǎn le shēngjī àngrán de qìxī.

This poem is filled with a vibrant, overflowing vitality.

Tips

usage

盎 is almost exclusively used in the compound 盎然, meaning exuberantly abundant. Common collocations: 春意盎然 (spring full of life), 生机盎然 (teeming with life), 兴致盎然 (full of enthusiasm).

register

盎 is a classical/literary character rarely seen outside of 盎然. As a standalone noun it referred to an ancient wide-bellied earthenware vessel.

Components

radical

皿 mǐn

dish; vessel

Bottom dish radical, depicting a flat-bottomed bowl on a base. Anchors 盎 as a kind of vessel - historically a wide-mouthed, narrow-bottomed pottery jar. From that came 盎然 'brimming, abundant,' as in 春意盎然 (spring brimming over). Same vessel family: 盆, 盘, 盐, 盈.

phonetic

央 yāng

centre

Top 央 supplies the sound - yāng drifting to àng through regular vowel shift. Originally 央 depicted a person carrying a yoke across the shoulders, meaning 'centre, middle.' Pure phonetic here. The same phonetic powers 殃 (calamity) and 鸯 (Mandarin duck-half), all sharing the yāng/àng neighbourhood.