妄言

Mandarin · pinyin wàng yán

Meanings

  1. lies
  2. wild talk
  3. to tell lies
  4. to talk nonsense
  5. fantasy (literature)
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

妄
wàng · absurd, foolish, reckless; false
言
yán · words, speech; speak, say; Kangxi radical 149
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–2 · wang4 yan2

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

2character links
Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

妄言 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

  1. (literary) outlandish talk; wild talk
  2. (literary) lie; untruth

verb

  1. (literary) to talk tactlessly; to speak carelessly; to make irresponsible remarks

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack