Chinese Character Wiki
亂

luàn

confusion, mess

Original meaning: 

untangle threads

Originally written as 𤔔, which depicts two hands (𠬪) untangling threads (幺) on a silk frame. 乚 was later added as a distinguishing mark. The meaning later shifted to "mess" and "confusion".

Components
𤔔 sound,iconic component

𤔔  Sound Iconic component

luàn

  

(untangle threads), to govern

Depicts two hands (𠬪) untangling threads (幺) on a silk frame.

乚 distinguishing component

乚  Distinguishing component

yǐn, yà

  

turning stroke

Evolution

亂 Bronze script Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)

Bronze script

Late Western Zhou (~800 BC)
亂 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
亂 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
亂 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

乱 (亂) 

luàn

confusion, state of chaos; create chaos, revolt; in confusion or disorder; in a confused state of mind; disorder; upheaval; riot; illicit sexual relations; to throw into disorder; to mix up; indiscriminate; random; arbitrary

Most common words with 亂
Freq.
Word
Meaning

乱

disorder

混乱

confusion

乱七八糟

at sixes and sevens

扰乱

to disturb

捣乱

to disturb

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*[r]ˤo[n]-s

lwanH

luàn

disorder, rebellion


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 61.8613% of movies

719th most common character in movies

765th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

13

Simplified

乱

Unicode

U+4E82

Shuowen

“亂，治也。从乙。乙，治之也。从。”


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