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闷热 (mēn rè) — sultry, muggy, stuffy (of weather)

Definition

闷热 (mēnrè) means 'sultry, muggy' — hot and humid with no air moving. Distinct from 炎热, which is about intense dry heat; 闷 adds the closed-in, airless feeling.

adjective
sultrymuggystuffy (of weather)

Examples

  • 闷热。
    Jīn tiān mēn rè dé ràng rén chuǎn bú guò qì lái.
    It's so sultry today that people can't breathe.
  • 闷热。
    mēn rè De wǔ hòu zuì shì hé dài zài kōng tiáo fáng lǐ.
    Sultry afternoons are best spent in an air-conditioned room.
  • 闷热。
    Nán fāng xià tiān de mēn rè bǐ běi fāng gèng nán shòu.
    The sultry weather in southern summers is even more unbearable than in the north.

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.

闷mēnstifling
热rèhot

The stifling quality of 闷 combines with heat in 热 to describe heavy, muggy warmth.

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 悶; 闷 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīn
Sound part声符shēngfú
門
門mén悶mēn
Same sound today

The traditional form 悶 has 門 as a sound part and 心 as a meaning part; the simplified 闷 is a later shorthand.

Open 闷 →

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 熱; 热 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
灬Written in full as火huǒfire
Sound part声符shēngfú
埶
埶yì熱rè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 熱 pairs 埶 with 火 (written as 灬) to show heat, while 埶 gives a sound.

Open 热 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Weather

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