蛮干 (mán gàn) — to act recklessly; to be foolhardy

Definition

蛮干 means to push ahead recklessly without thinking — brute-force action that ignores method. Pairs naturally with 不要 / 不能 to warn against it (做事不能蛮干).

verb
to act recklesslyto be foolhardy

Examples

  • 蛮干，。
    Zuò shì bù néng mán gàn, yào sān sī ér xíng.
    Don't act recklessly; think twice before you act.
  • 蛮干。
    Tā mán gàn de jié guǒ shì làng fèi le hěn duō rén lì.
    His foolhardy actions wasted a lot of manpower.
  • 蛮干，。
    Wǒ men bú yào mán gàn, yào jiǎng jiu fāng fǎ.
    We shouldn't act rashly; we need to use proper methods.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

蛮mánreckless
干gānact

蛮 means reckless, 干 means to act; together they mean to act rashly.

Characters in this word

Most 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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
虫虫chóngsnake
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.

Open 蛮 →

The simplified 干 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (饼干, 干杯) it is 乾; in others (干, 干活儿) (干扰) it is 幹 or 干.

Most 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 乾; 干 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
乙乙yǐ
Sound part声符shēngfú
倝
倝gàn乾gān
Same sound today
Open 干 →

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