满 (mǎn) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

满

mǎn[man3]Tone 3

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HSK 2

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滿

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:13

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (water) is slender and compressed, while the right component provides the open, balanced structure, keeping both sides harmonious.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 滿 and simplified form 满 share the same water radical on the left, with slight simplification of internal strokes on the right.

1. Meaning

full, filled, complete

to reach the limitcompletely, quitesatisfied, contentedManchu ethnic group

Adjective / VerbNeutral#volume#capacity#emotion#ethnicity

Sample Usage

杯子里装满了水。
Bēi zi lǐ zhuāng mǎn le shuǐ.
The cup is filled with water.
他对这个结果很满意。
Tā duì zhè gè jié guǒ hěn mǎn yì.
He is very satisfied with this result.

2. Sound

/[man²¹⁴]/Tone: 214

满

mǎnman3

ˇ(214)

=mǎn

Initial Consonant

Type: Bilabial Nasal

Sounds like: m sound as in 'mother'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Nasal resonance through nostrils.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Both lips pressed gently together, nasal passage open.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: an sound as in 'bun' or 'on' (without the final ng)

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ahn'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T3 (214)

2 → 1 → 4 (214)

3rd Tone (Low-Dipping)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 3 dips low in pitch and rises back up, resembling an incredulous English question like 'Really?'

Sandhi: When followed by another 3rd tone syllable, mǎn changes to a 2nd tone (35) due to tone sandhi rules.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse the nasal final '-an' with the velar nasal final '-ang' (măng). Keep the tongue tip forward against the lower teeth.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Trace a checkmark in the air: dip down from your chest level and sweep upward to shoulder level.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 13 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (water) is slender and compressed, while the right component provides the open, balanced structure, keeping both sides harmonious.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 滿 and simplified form 满 share the same water radical on the left, with slight simplification of internal strokes on the right.

4. Components

Radical 氵 · Water Radical (water, liquid, flow)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 氵 (indicates liquids, overflow, or being filled to the brim with water)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 两 (original sound: liǎng / mǎn phonetic connection through historical sound drift)

Water (氵) reaches the two sides (两) of the container, overflowing and making it completely FULL.

氵 Water / liquid component
两 Phonetic and structural component

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

9· Phonetic Root: 㒼 ()

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined water (氵) with a phonetic element indicating abundance or a pair, representing water brimming up to the top edges of a vessel.

Semantic Evolution: From water overflowing a container, the meaning broadened to any state of being full, complete, satisfied, or reaching a maximum limit.

Used historically also to denote the Manchu (满族) people and Qing Dynasty (满清) culture.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: マン (man) / Kun: み.ちる (michiru), み.たす (mitasu)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

만

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine filling a bucket with WATER (氵) on TWO (两) sides until it is overflowing and completely FULL (mǎn) to the brim.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

螨

mǎnmiteAdd the insect radical (虫) to indicate a tiny insect pest.

瞒

mánto hide, concealAdd the eye radical (目) to mean hiding something from view.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

慢(màn)

慢 uses the heart radical (忄), meaning slow, whereas 满 uses water (氵) meaning full.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

这个瓶子里装[___]了果汁。

Clue: mǎn

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the tone 3 dipping contour with tone 4, or miswriting the right side component by mixing it up with similar-sounding characters like 慢.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see 满, what does it mean and how do you pronounce it?

Production: How do you write the character for 'full / satisfied' with pinyin mǎn?

满mǎnFull

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