How to Write 唵 (ǎn) — Meaning “Om (mantra) / Huh?”

Imagine a mouth (口) chanting "Om" while sitting under a large blanket (奄, which looks like a cover). The blanket muffles the sound, so the chant becomes a deep, sacred hum — just like the mantra 唵嘛呢叭咪吽.

Keep the left 口 small and high, not taking up too much space. The right part 奄 has a big top stroke (一) and a curved bottom hook (乚) — be careful not to flatten the hook or make the bottom part look like the character 电.

唵 (ǎn) is used for the Buddhist mantra or as an interjection "huh?", while 呲 (cī) means "to scold" or "to hiss" and has 此 on the right. 咠 (qì) means "to whisper" and has 耳 (ear) on the bottom. Visually, the right side of each character is completely different.

In modern Chinese, 唵 appears almost exclusively in the Buddhist mantra 唵嘛呢叭咪吽 (Om Mani Padme Hum). Rarely, it is used as an informal interjection meaning "Huh?" to express confusion, but this is not common in writing.

Common words containing 唵 include: 唵 (ǎn) — Om (mantra) / Huh?; 唵嘛呢叭咪吽 (ǎn ma ne ba mī hōng) — Om Mani Padme Hum (Buddhist mantra).