How to Write 蒗 (làng) — Meaning “Lang (used in place names like Ninglang)”

Imagine a grassy field (艹) next to a river with waves (浪) — this place, like Ninglang, is full of green plants and flowing water. You can remember 蒗 as "grass by the waves" because the character combines the grass radical with the character for wave.

Be careful to write the grass radical 艹 as two parallel horizontal strokes with a short vertical line through the left one, not as three separate strokes. The lower part 浪 has a left side 氵 (three dots) and a right side 良, and the overall character should be balanced with the grass on top covering about one-third of the height.

蒗 is primarily used in place names like Ninglang, while 莿 (cì) means thorn or thorny plants, and 菀 (wǎn or yù) can refer to luxuriant grass or a type of herb. Visually, 蒗 has the grass radical plus 浪, whereas 莿 has 艹 plus 刺 (thorn) and 菀 has 艹 plus 宛 — so their right-side components are very different.

蒗 is almost exclusively used in place names, most notably 宁蒗 (Níng làng, Ninglang Yi Autonomous County in Yunnan Province). It also appears in historical or regional names like 蒗渠 (a place) and as part of the plant name 蒗荡 (scopolia). You will rarely see this character outside of these specific geographical or botanical contexts.

Common words containing 蒗 include: 宁蒗 (níng làng) — Ninglang (a county in Yunnan).; 蒗渠 (làng qú) — Langqu (a place name); 蒗荡 (làng dàng) — scopolia (a type of plant).