HSK 6 · Emotions

茫然 mángrán “at a loss” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 茫然 means

  1. at a loss
  2. bewildered
  3. blankly
  4. vacantly

How to say 茫然

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale茫máng2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale然rán2nd tone, rising

茫然 in a sentence

  1. 她感到茫然。

    Tā gǎndào mángrán.

    She felt at a loss.

    Sentence #4566039 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他站在那里，一脸茫然。

    Tā zhàn zài nàli, yì liǎn mángrán.

    He stood there looking bewildered.

    Sentence #602901 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 茫然 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 茫 (máng) with each of its parts in a different colour
茫mángvast, with no clear boundary
  • 艹grass form of 艸 · cǎoMeaning part
  • 汒part of the characterSound part
The character 然 (rán) with each of its parts in a different colour
然ráncorrect
  • 肰dog meat · ránSound part
  • 灬fire form of 火 · huǒMeaning part

灬 hints at the meaning (fire); 肰 (rán) hints at the sound. Compare it with rán.

Memory aidFire 灬 under meat 肰. Its first meaning was “to burn”, now written 燃 (rán).

How to write 茫然

茫 9 strokes · 然 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 茫然

Words with 茫

茫茫mángmáng · vast

Words with 然

虽然suīrán · although当然dāngrán · of course突然tūrán · sudden然后ránhòu · then自然zìrán · nature既然jìrán · since竟然jìngrán · unexpectedly然而rán'ér · however仍然réngrán · still必然bìrán · inevitable

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

乐趣lèqù · delight乐意lèyì · willing谅解liàngjiě · to understand留恋liúliàn · to be reluctant to leave藐视miǎoshì · to despise蔑视mièshì · to despise纳闷儿nàmènr · to feel puzzled难堪nánkān · embarrassed

FAQs

茫然 (mángrán) means “at a loss” or “bewildered”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it mángrán: máng with a 2nd tone, then rán with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 茫然 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type mangran with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 茫然 from the suggestions. Typing mangran into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
茫然 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.