(mán) — climbing vines (bound form; appears in compounds like 藤蔓)

Definition

蔓 (mán) is a bound form meaning 'creeping vine or tendril' — it cannot stand alone and only appears inside compounds like 藤蔓.

bound form
climbing vines (bound form; appears in compounds like 藤蔓)

Examples

  • Qiáng shàng de téng mán pá mǎn le zhěng miàn qiáng.
    The vines on the wall have crawled over the entire wall.
  • Zhè zhǒng mán cǎo shēng zhǎng dé hěn kuài.
    This kind of creeping weed grows very fast.
  • Yuán zi lǐ yǒu hěn duō yě shēng de téng mán.
    There are many wild vines in the garden.

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
cǎograss
Sound part声符shēngfú
mànmàn
Same sound today

蔓 combines 艸, a plant marker, with 曼, which gives its sound.

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