罔 (wǎng) — (bound form) to deceive; (bound form) no; not (in literary compounds)

Definition

Literary/classical bound morpheme, mainly seen in 罔顾 (disregard) and the idiom 置若罔闻 (turn a deaf ear). The 'no/not' sense is negative; the 'deceive' sense appears in 欺罔 (to deceive).

bound form
to deceivenonot (in literary compounds)
Easily confused

Examples

  • 罔，。
    Tā wǎng gù shì shí, jiān chí cuò wù guān diǎn.
    He ignored the facts and insisted on his wrong viewpoint.
  • ，。
    Duì yú qún zhòng de yì jiàn, tā zhì ruò wǎng wén.
    He turned a deaf ear to the opinions of the masses.
  • 罔。
    Zhè zhǒng xíng wéi jiǎn zhí shì qī wǎng gōng zhòng.
    This kind of behavior is simply deceiving the public.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
网网wǎngnet
Sound part声符shēngfú
亡
亡wáng罔wǎng
Same sound today

罔 uses 网, a net, to point to its meaning, and 亡 gives the sound.

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