What does 慢 mean in Chinese?

慢 (màn) means "slow" in Chinese. The new HSK exam expects you to recognise it at HSK 2.

How do you write 慢?

慢 is written with 14 strokes, starting from the 忄 (heart) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 慢?

The radical of 慢 is 忄 (heart, Kangxi radical #61). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 快.

How many strokes does 慢 have?

The Chinese character 慢 has 14 strokes.

What HSK level is 慢?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 慢 is a character to recognise at HSK 2.

慢 (màn): Meaning, Stroke Order, Radical & Examples

慢

màn

slow

HSK 2 character 14 strokes Radical: 忄 (heart)

Quick Answer

慢 (màn) means "slow" with 14 strokes, radical 忄 (heart), HSK 2 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 慢 →Animated stroke-order for 慢 →

Pronunciation

màn

Meaning

Primary: slow

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

慢 has no oracle-bone form and is a phono-semantic compound of later origin. The semantic component is 忄 (the left-side form of 心, heart), indicating a mental or emotional state, and the phonetic component is 曼 màn, which also provides the modern pronunciation. 曼 on its own originally depicted a long, drawn-out reaching motion, a sense that happens to fit the modern meaning of 慢 but is not the reason for the pairing.

Form evolution

The character first appears in seal script with 忄 on the left and a tall, elegant 曼 on the right. Clerical script compressed 曼 vertically and regularised 忄 into the three-stroke vertical-heart radical. The modern 楷书 form is a direct descendant of the clerical shape with no further structural change.

How the meaning evolved

Early usage centred on 'arrogant', 'disrespectful', or 'negligent', a mental attitude of being lax (轻慢, 傲慢). The sense of 'slow' in time or motion developed from this laxness, through the idea of sluggishness or carelessness in action, and became dominant in later Middle Chinese. Modern Mandarin uses 慢 almost exclusively for 'slow', with the older 'rude, arrogant' sense surviving only in compounds like 怠慢 dàimàn 'to slight'.

Cultural note

慢走 mànzǒu, literally 'walk slowly', is the standard polite farewell said to a departing guest, roughly meaning 'take care on the way'. Learners often misread it as a command to slow down, which can be jarring until they learn its formulaic function.

Mnemonic

A heart spread wide and long — slow

Decomposition

慢=忄radical+曼component

Breaking a character into its components makes it far easier to recall. Each component above links to its own detail page.

Basic info

Pinyin	màn
Meanings	slow
Stroke count	14 strokes
Radical	忄 (#61: heart)
New HSK exam	Recognise at HSK 2
Frequency	#1035 most common

Example sentences

他走得很慢。
Tā zǒu de hěn màn.
He walks very slowly.
From 慢 (HSK 2)
对不起，招待不周，多有怠慢。
Duìbuqǐ, zhāodài bù zhōu, duō yǒu dàimàn.
Sorry for the poor hospitality, I've been negligent.
From 怠慢 (HSK 7-9)