瞒

• Pinyin: mán
• Hanzi breakdown: 瞒 = 目 (eye) + 满 (full, phonetic component) — to fill the eyes with concealment

Meaning

To conceal; to hide from; to deceive. To deliberately keep something secret from someone.

Implies deliberate concealment of information from a specific person, often out of self-protection or to avoid causing distress. Common in personal relationships, workplace contexts, and narratives involving secrets. Often appears in the pattern 瞒着某人 (concealing from someone).

Examples

1. 他一直瞒着家人在外兼职，直到攒够钱付了房租才坦白。 He kept it from his family that he was working a side job, and didn’t come clean until he’d saved enough to pay the rent.
2. 这件事已经很难再瞒下去了，早晚都会被发现，不如主动说清楚。 It’s getting harder and harder to keep this under wraps—sooner or later it’ll be discovered, so you might as well explain it clearly yourself.
3. 医生建议家属暂时瞒着病人病情的严重程度，以免造成过大的心理压力。 The doctor advised the family to temporarily keep the severity of the illness from the patient to avoid causing excessive psychological stress.

Usage Guide

Context: relationships, workplace, narrative

Tone: negative

Do Say

• 你再瞒下去只会让事情越来越复杂。(Continuing to conceal this will only make things more and more complicated.)
• 他一直瞒着领导私自修改了合同条款。(He secretly altered the contract terms without telling his supervisor.)

Don't Say

• 把'瞒'用于表示'忽略'或'不注意' — 忽视信息时用'忽略'或'无视'，瞒专指主动隐瞒 (Don't use 瞒 to mean 'ignore' or 'overlook' — use 忽略 or 无视; 瞒 specifically means active concealment)

Origin & History

The eye radical 目 indicates hiding something from someone's sight; 满 serves as the phonetic component.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal