懑
How to Say
How to Write
Meaning: melancholy
💡 Heart (心) full (满) to bursting—that's 懑 (mèn) melancholy.
Compounds
Character Story & Explanation
懑 (mèn) means 'melancholy' or 'sullen frustration,' often from suppressed emotions. Unlike Western 'depression' as a clinical term, 懑 conveys a pent-up, stifled feeling, like being trapped in gloom. It appears in literary contexts, e.g., 懑闷 (mènmèn) 'depressed and irritable,' akin to Shakespeare's 'spleen.' The radical 心 'heart' links it to emotion, while the phonetic 满 (mǎn) suggests fullness—a heart too full to breathe.
Example Sentences
Common Compounds
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