莽 (mǎng) is a Chinese character meaning “rank grass”. It is written from 艹 (grass / plant radical) and 犬 (dog) and 廾 (two hands raised together), and takes 10 strokes.
Build the character for “rash; reckless”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
艹 + 犬 + 廾
Top–middle–bottom structure
- 艹 grass / plant radical · cǎo meaning
- 犬 dog · quǎn meaning
- 廾 two hands raised together · gǒng remnant
Structure from: 说文解字: 莽，从犬从茻，茻亦声; 现代字形 ⿳艹犬廾（下部廾由茻下半艸演变）据 hanzi-writer-data 笔画 0–2/3–6/7–9 核验
Memory aid
A dog (犬) charges through grass (艹) while two hands (廾) below grab at it and miss — wild, rash, reckless.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
10 strokes
In real words
- 鲁莽lǔ mǎngrash; reckless莽 = mǎngspoken aslú mǎng
- 草莽cǎo mǎngwild grassland; the common people (outside officialdom)莽 = mǎng
Go deeper
All readings
rash; dense grass
rank grass; thick undergrowth; rash, reckless; vast
密生的草；也指言行粗率、不细心。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 鲁莽lǔ mǎngrash; reckless莽 = mǎngspoken aslú mǎng
- 草莽cǎo mǎngwild grassland; the common people (outside officialdom)莽 = mǎng
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 莽 mean?
莽 (mǎng) means rank grass; thick undergrowth; rash, reckless; vast.
How do you pronounce 莽?
It is pronounced mǎng.
What parts is 莽 made of?
艹 (grass / plant radical) and 犬 (dog) and 廾 (two hands raised together). The recorded source is: 说文解字: 莽，从犬从茻，茻亦声; 现代字形 ⿳艹犬廾（下部廾由茻下半艸演变）据 hanzi-writer-data 笔画 0–2/3–6/7–9 核验. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 莽 have?
10. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 莽?
艹. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 莽?
Common ones are 鲁莽 and 草莽. The reading of 莽 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.