乱 meaning in English
in confusion or disorder; in a confused state of mind
Meaning of 乱
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- in confusion or disorder
- in a confused state of mind
- disorder
- upheaval
- riot
- illicit sexual relations
- to throw into disorder
- to mix up
How to use 乱
乱 is often used as an adjective meaning messy or chaotic, and as an adverb before a verb meaning "randomly" or "carelessly." Example: 你的房间太乱了。(Nǐ de fángjiān tài luàn le.) Your room is too messy. As an adverb: 别乱说。(Bié luàn shuō.) Don't talk nonsense.
The left side of 乱 (luàn) looks like 舌 (shé), a tongue, and the right side is a hooked stroke 乚. Picture a tongue wagging wildly with a crooked tail, and you get chaos and disorder.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write the left part as 古 or forget the hook on the right stroke 乚, which makes the character look like 舌 alone. Also keep the fourth tone. Luàn is a sharp falling tone, not the second tone of 栾 (luán).
乱 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
乱 luàn · in confusion or disorder · 7 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 乱.
| 混乱 | hùnluàn | confused; chaotic; disorderly |
| 乱七八糟 | luànqībāzāo | (idiom) chaotic; in disorder; muddled |
| 捣乱 | dǎoluàn | to disturb; to look for trouble |
| 扰乱 | rǎoluàn | to disturb; to perturb |
| 胡思乱想 | húsī-luànxiǎng | (idiom) to indulge in flights of fancy; to let one's imagination run wild |
| 骚乱 | sāoluàn | disturbance; riot; to create a disturbance |
| 霍乱 | huòluàn | cholera |
| 紊乱 | wěnluàn | disorder; chaos |
| 慌乱 | huāngluàn | frenetic; hurried |
| 忙乱 | mángluàn | rushed and muddled |
| 杂乱无章 | záluàn-wúzhāng | disordered and in a mess (idiom); all mixed up and chaotic |
| 乱来 | luànlái | to act recklessly; to mess around |
Questions about 乱
What does 乱 mean?
乱 (luàn) means "in confusion or disorder; in a confused state of mind" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 乱?
乱 is made of 1 character: 乱 (7 strokes). That is 7 strokes in total.
Is 乱 an HSK word?
Yes. 乱 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 乱 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 乱 is written 亂.
What does 乱 mean before a verb, like 乱花钱?
Before a verb, 乱 means doing something carelessly or without a good reason. 乱花钱 (luàn huā qián) means to waste money, and 乱跑 (luàn pǎo) means to run around randomly. It often shows up in warnings with 别 (bié), as in 别乱跑.
What is the difference between 乱 and 混乱?
乱 is short and common in everyday speech, for example 房间很乱. 混乱 (hùnluàn) is more formal and usually describes larger situations, such as 交通混乱 (traffic chaos) or 局面混乱 (a chaotic situation).