DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT
萌
Mandarin · pinyin méng
Meanings
- (bound form) to sprout; to bud
- (coll.) cute; adorable (orthographic borrowing from Japanese 萌え "moe", affection for an anime or manga character)
- variant of 氓 méng
Characters in this entry
- 萌
- méng · bud, sprout
Explore the spelling
Mandarin tones
2 · meng2
Compare attested words with these syllables ↗Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.
Connected dictionary
1character link37same-tone records1source reference
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.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 9 senses · 1 Cantonese reading
Rime Cantonese 粵拼
mang4
Cantonese word readings for 萌. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.
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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section
Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.
character · Etymology 1
- to bud; to sprout; to germinate
- to begin; to start
- beginning; start; harbinger; omen; augury; portent
- to happen; to occur; to take place
- (ACG) moe: feelings of affection towards a fictional character
- (Internet slang, by extension) cute; adorable
- a surname, Meng
character · Etymology 2
- used in 蕨萌 (“a grass name”)
character · Etymology 3
- (obsolete) alternative form of 氓 (“farmer; wanderer”)
Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack