闷 (mèn) is a Chinese character meaning “depressed”. It is written from 门 (door; gate) and 心 (heart; mind), one enclosing the other, and takes 7 strokes. It has a second reading, mēn, which turns up in 闷热 — here the two readings are two separate things to learn, not one card with two answers.
Build the character for “depressed; bored”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
门 + 心
Enclosing structure
Structure from: 现代字形拆分（⿵门心），已对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：门 3 画 + 心 4 画 = 7 画
Memory aid
A heart (心) shut inside a gate (门), with no way out and no air. That closed-in heart is the feeling of 闷: stifled, stuffy, low.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 郁闷yù mèngloomy; depressed; down闷 = mèn
- 苦闷kǔ mèndepressed; distressed; feeling low闷 = mèn
Go deeper
All readings
depressed; bored
depressed; low-spirited; bored; shut in and unhappy
心里不舒畅，烦恼不快；也指密闭不透气。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 郁闷yù mèngloomy; depressed; down闷 = mèn
- 苦闷kǔ mèndepressed; distressed; feeling low闷 = mèn
stuffy; muggy
stuffy; airless and hot; to cover tightly; (of a sound) muffled
空气不流通而感到憋闷；也指盖紧使不透气。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 闷热mēn rèmuggy; stuffy and hot闷 = mēn
Sound component
门 family tone diff
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 闷 mean?
闷 (mèn) means depressed; low-spirited; bored; shut in and unhappy.
How do you pronounce 闷?
Its main reading is mèn. It also has a second reading, mēn, which only shows up in certain words such as 闷热 — so the word tells you the reading, not the character on its own.
Why is 闷 sometimes pronounced mēn?
Because it is a multi-reading character: each reading carries a different sense, and the word decides which one applies. In 闷热 it is read mēn.
What parts is 闷 made of?
门 (door; gate) and 心 (heart; mind), one enclosing the other. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分（⿵门心），已对照 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：门 3 画 + 心 4 画 = 7 画. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 闷 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 闷?
门. 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 闷?
Common ones are 郁闷 and 苦闷. The reading of 闷 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.