蛮 (mán) — barbaric, fierce, unreasonable; (adverb, colloquial) quite, pretty, rather
Definition
As an adjective, 蛮 means savage or unreasonable — stronger and more literary than 粗暴 or 野蛮, usually describing a person or their behavior. As a colloquial adverb it just means 'quite / pretty' (蛮好, 蛮大), softer than 非常.
bound form
barbaricfierceunreasonable(adverb, colloquial) quiteprettyrather
Examples
- ，。Zhè ge rén zhēn mán hèng, cóng bù tīng bié rén quàn.This person is really unreasonable, never listens to others.
- 蛮，。Jīn tiān tiān qì mán hǎo de, wǒ men chū qù zǒu zǒu ba.The weather is pretty good today, let's go out for a walk.
- 蛮，。Tā shuō huà mán zhí jiē de, bù guǎi wān mò jiǎo.He speaks quite directly, without beating around the bush.
Origin
Sound + meaning六书liùshū
形声xíngshēngMost characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.
This origin belongs to the traditional form 蠻; 蛮 is its simplified writing.
Sound part声符shēngfú
䜌
䜌䜌蠻mán
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.
The traditional form 蠻 shows 虫 (a snake) for the meaning and 䜌 for the sound; the simplified 蛮 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the historical components.
Appears in
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