慌 huāng frantic
frantic; nervous; panicked; to lose one's head
How to remember 慌: 忄 heart + 荒 wasteland = frantic. Lost in a wasteland with a dead phone, the driver feels his heart race and becomes frantic.
Component breakdown
形声 · Meaning + sound
One part gives the meaning, the other gives the sound.
慌 = 忄 heart + 荒 wasteland
- 忄 heart meaning
- 荒 wasteland sound
Lost in a wasteland with a dead phone, the driver feels his heart race and becomes frantic.
How it came to be
The heart gives the meaning and the wasteland gives the sound.
How it is used
- Flustered/panicky: 慌张 (huāngzhāng) flurried, 惊慌 (jīnghuāng) panicked, 慌乱 (huāngluàn) chaotic and frantic, 别慌 (bié huāng) don't panic.
- As a colloquial intensifier 'unbearably': 饿得慌 (è de huāng) starving, 闷得慌 (mèn de huāng) bored stiff.
- 手忙脚乱、惊慌失措 (jīnghuāng-shīcuò) = to lose one's head in a panic.