(làng màn) - romantic in Mandarin
làngmànTraditional: 浪漫
Translation
romantic
Word origin
A twentieth-century sound loan from English romantic, written with 浪 (làng, wave) and 漫 (màn, to overflow) for their sound rather than their meaning.
- Origin
- loan
- Root
- 浪 (làng, wave) + 漫 (màn, to overflow), chosen phonetically for English romantic
Stroke order
浪
漫
Examples
漫。
They had a very romantic evening.
漫。
This restaurant is very romantic.
漫。
He is not a romantic sort of person.
落漫。
Watching the sunset by the sea is extremely romantic.
漫。
She found it very romantic when the flowers arrived.
浪漫 (làng màn) is romantic, and it is a straight sound loan from the English word, borrowed in the early twentieth century along with a good deal of other Western vocabulary. The characters were picked to fit the sound; wave and overflow are a happy accident rather than the meaning.
It is a stative adjective, so it takes 很 rather than 是: 这家餐厅很浪漫, not 这家餐厅是浪漫. Before a noun it needs 的: 浪漫的晚上, 浪漫的故事. It also works as a noun in phrases such as 生活需要浪漫.
The scope is narrower than in English. 浪漫 covers candles, sunsets and grand gestures, but it does not stretch to the literary movement (that is 浪漫主义) and it is not used the way English says "a romantic notion" for something impractical. For a starry-eyed plan you want 不切实际 instead.
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浪漫: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "浪漫" (romantic): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 43.