Meaning of 忙
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- busy
- hurriedly
- to hurry
- to rush
How to use 忙
忙 is most often used as an adjective meaning busy, and it can take 很 (hěn) or 太 (tài) before it. It also appears in verb phrases like 忙什么 (busy with what) and in compounds such as 帮忙 (bāngmáng) and 急忙 (jímáng). Example: 你最近忙吗？(Nǐ zuìjìn máng ma?) Have you been busy lately?
忙 (máng) has the heart radical 忄 on the left and 亡 (wáng, to lose or perish) on the right. Think of it as being so busy that you lose your heart, with no time left for yourself.
Common mistake: Learners often write the right side as 已 or confuse 忙 with 忘 (wàng, to forget), which uses the same 亡 but puts the full heart 心 underneath instead of 忄 on the left. Also remember the tone is rising, máng, not falling.
忙 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.
忙 máng · busy · 6 strokes
- 1
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- 3
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- 5
- 6
Related words
Words that share a character with 忙.
| 帮忙 | bāngmáng | to help; to lend a hand |
| 连忙 | liánmáng | promptly; at once |
| 急忙 | jímáng | hastily |
| 慌忙 | huāngmáng | in a great rush; in a flurry |
| 赶忙 | gǎnmáng | to hurry; to hasten |
| 匆忙 | cōngmáng | hasty; hurried |
| 忙碌 | mánglù | busy; bustling |
| 繁忙 | fánmáng | busy; bustling |
| 忙活 | mánghuo | to be really busy; pressing business |
| 忙乱 | mángluàn | rushed and muddled |
| 帮帮忙 | bāngbangmáng | to help; to do a favor |
| 忙于 | mángyú | busy with |
Questions about 忙
What does 忙 mean?
忙 (máng) means "busy; hurriedly" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 忙?
忙 is made of 1 character: 忙 (6 strokes). That is 6 strokes in total.
Is 忙 an HSK word?
Yes. 忙 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do I say 'I am busy' in Chinese without sounding odd?
Say 我很忙 (wǒ hěn máng). Chinese adjectives usually do not take 是 (shì), so 我是忙 is incorrect, and 很 here is often just a link word, not a strong 'very'.
Why is 帮忙 sometimes split, as in 帮我一个忙?
帮忙 (bāngmáng) is a separable verb, meaning 帮 is the verb and 忙 is its object. So you say 帮我一个忙 (bāng wǒ yí ge máng, do me a favor) or 帮了很多忙, but not 帮忙我.