Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

忙: busy, occupied

Also: restless

JLPT N36 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

亡 carries the meaning · 忄 carries meaning and sound

6 strokes

Two readings, and the words that use each

ボウbou · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 多忙なたぼうなbusy
  • 忙殺されるぼうさつされるbe worked to death
  • 多忙たぼう
  • 忙殺ぼうさつoverloading (someone; with work)
  • 繁忙はんぼうbusy; high-stress; hectic

いそがしいisogashii · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 忙しいいそがしいbusy

Also read モウ, せわしい, おそれる, うれえるさま, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0 · JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)心, as 忄 (meaning) + 亡 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 忙 (rev. 92200451), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Heart (⺖) + perish (亡). A state where your "heart" and mind feel like they are "perishing" or being overwhelmed by too many tasks—to be Truly busy!”
From the ⺖ heart story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
忄

Also built on heart (忄)

All 34
亡

Also built on deceased (亡)

忙 takes the 亡 family's reading, ボウ (bou).

Also read ボウ

31 kanji share this on'yomiAll 31

Also read モウ

11 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
忙 busy · 忄
vs妄 delusion · 女
忙 has 忄 where 妄 has 女.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · máng

Same form: 忙 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
忙 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
忙 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin máng most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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