狂 (kuáng) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

狂

kuáng[kuang2]Tone 2

mad

HSK 5

Guru Deep Dive

English · mad

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:7

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (dog component) must be compressed slightly to make room for the right phonetic component, keeping both halves balanced vertically.

1. Meaning

mad, wild, violent

arrogant, conceitedenthusiastic, extreme, intense

AdjectiveNeutral#mental state#behavior#personality

Sample Usage

他今天高兴得快要发狂了。
tā jīntiān gāoxìng de kuài yào fākuáng le.
He is so happy today that he is almost going crazy.
这只小狗看起来有点狂躁。
zhè zhī xiǎo gǒu kàn qǐlái yǒudiǎn kuángzào.
This puppy looks a bit manic and agitated.

2. Sound

/[kʰu̯aŋ³⁵]/Tone: 35

狂

kuángkuang2

´(35)

=kuáng

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Velar

Sounds like: k sound as in 'kite'

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Strong gust of air from throat! Tissue held in front MUST fly forward.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Back of tongue raised against the soft palate, releasing a strong puff of air.

Final Rhyme

uang

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -wang rhymes with 'wong' or 'ong' with an 'ah' core vowel

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

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

Tone

T2 (35)

3 → 5 (35)

2nd Tone (Mid-Rising)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 2 starts at a mid pitch and rises sharply to the top, like an upward questioning inflection in English.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the initial 'k-' with 'g-', or missing the rising tone contour which turns it into a flat or falling word.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A rising hand gesture moving upward from left to right, exactly mirroring the inflection of asking 'What?' in English.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 7 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left radical (dog component) must be compressed slightly to make room for the right phonetic component, keeping both halves balanced vertically.

4. Components

Radical 犭 · Dog Radical (animals, beasts, or wild behavior)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 犭 (Indicates wild, animalistic, or frenzied behavior)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 王 (original sound: wang)

A wild dog (犭) acting like a king (王) who thinks he rules everything, going completely mad and wild.

犭 Dog radical representing wild behavior
王 Phonetic clue providing the sound base 'wang'

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

7· Phonetic Root: 王 (wáng)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the animal/beast radical (犭) and the phonetic '王' (wang) to represent a fierce, rabid dog or wild, untamed fury.

Semantic Evolution: Originally denoting a rabid or fierce dog, its meaning broadened over time to describe any wild, frenzied, arrogant, or mad human behavior.

The dog radical has historically been used for characters depicting ferocious animals or unruly emotional states.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: キョウ / Kun: くるう

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

광

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

A wild dog (犭) wearing a king's crown (王) goes completely MAD (kuáng) and starts acting wild and violent in the streets!

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

旺

wàngprosperous, flourishingReplaces the dog radical with the sun radical (日), meaning bright and prosperous.

皇

huángemperorAdds the white radical (白) on top of the king component.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

旺(wàng)

旺 has the sun (日) on the left for bright/prosperous; 狂 has the dog (犭) on the left for mad/wild.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

他昨天工作太多，累得快要发[___]了。

Clue: kuáng

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the left radical 犭 with 日 (sun) and accidentally writing the character 旺 instead of 狂.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 狂 mean when you see it paired with 疯 (fēng) in 疯狂?

Production: How do you write the character for 'mad/wild' (kuáng) using the dog radical and the king component?

狂kuángmad

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