HSK 6 · Verbs

妄想 wàngxiǎng “wishful thinking” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 妄想 means

  1. wishful thinking
  2. delusion
  3. to vainly hope
  4. to attempt vainly
  5. a vain attempt

How to say 妄想

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale妄wàng4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale想xiǎng3rd tone, dipping

妄想 in a sentence

  1. 他妄想不努力就能成功。

    Tā wàngxiǎng bù nǔlì jiù néng chénggōng.

    He has the delusion that he can succeed without working hard.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 想一个月学会中文,那是妄想。

    Xiǎng yí ge yuè xuéhuì Zhōngwén, nà shì wàngxiǎng.

    Thinking you can learn Chinese in a month is wishful thinking.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 妄想 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 妄 (wàng) with each of its parts in a different colour
妄wàngabsurd
  • 亡death · wángSound part
  • 女woman · nǚMeaning part

女 hints at the meaning (woman); 亡 (wáng) hints at the sound. Compare it with wàng.

The character 想 (xiǎng) with each of its parts in a different colour
想xiǎngto think
  • 相mutual · xiāngSound part
  • 心heart · xīnMeaning part

心 hints at the meaning (heart); 相 (xiāng) hints at the sound. Compare it with xiǎng.

Memory aid相 means to look at closely. Add the heart 心 and you picture something in your mind: to think.

How to write 妄想

妄 6 strokes · 想 13 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

妄想 (wàngxiǎng) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 妄想 (wàngxiǎng). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 妄想

Words with 想

More words: Thinking & Talking

FAQs

妄想 (wàngxiǎng) means “wishful thinking” or “delusion”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it wàngxiǎng: wàng with a 4th tone, then xiǎng with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 妄想 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type wangxiang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 妄想 from the suggestions. Typing wangxiang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
妄想 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.