Chinese word

猛

Pronunciation

Pinyinměng

Meaning

  • adverbfiercely

Example

他猛地跑出门。tā měng dì pǎo chū mén

He dashed out the door.

Illustration for 猛 (fiercely)

More examples

他被声音吓到，猛地吸了一口气。tā bèi shēng yīn xià dào měng dì xī le yì kǒu qì

The sound startled him, and he took a sharp breath.

Core concept

A forceful burst drives an action forward and often arrives with little warning.

Common phrases

  • 猛地吸了一口气měng dì xī le yì kǒu qì

    inhale sharply

  • 猛地关上门měng dì guān shàng mén

    forcefully close the door

Similar words

猛然měng rán: With a sudden surge of force at the start of an action or change.
猛烈地měng liè dì: With extremely strong and intense force.
突然tū rán: In a way that happens suddenly and without warning.
骤然zhòu rán: In an instant, as a change or event happens abruptly.

Definition in Chinese

表示动作或状态猛烈、突然，力度大，常作副词修饰动词。biǎo shì dòng zuò huò zhuàng tài měng liè tū rán lì dù dà cháng zuò fù cí xiū shì dòng cí

Word origin

猛 (měng, "fierce") is formed from 犭 (quǎn, "dog radical") + 孟 (mèng, "eldest"); 犭 marks the semantic side and 孟 supplies the sound, while the established sense is fierceness.

Usage tips

  • For English speakers, suddenly is often neutral, but this adverb reserves that suddenness for an action that surges with visible force.

Other meanings

  • suddenlyadverb
  • vigorouslyadverb

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word