How to Write 礞 (méng) — Meaning “chlorite (a type of mineral)”

Imagine a stone (石) covered by a dark, misty blanket (蒙) — that blanket represents the chlorite mineral's dark, greenish-grey color. The character 蒙 also looks like a hat or lid over the stone, helping you recall that 礞 is a "covered stone" mineral.

Write the left radical 石 first (three strokes: horizontal, left-falling, horizontal), then the right part 蒙. The right side has many strokes: the top 艹 (grass radical), the middle 冖 (cover), then two horizontal lines, and finally 豕 (pig) at the bottom — be careful not to forget the small horizontal strokes inside 豕. A common mistake is making the overall character too wide; keep the left and right parts balanced, with the right side slightly taller.

磨 (mó, "to grind" or "millstone") has the radical 石 plus 麻 (hemp), and is used for actions like grinding or polishing, while 磬 (qìng, "chime stone") has 石 plus 殸 (sound), referring to a musical stone instrument. In contrast, 礞 always means a specific mineral (chlorite) and appears only in traditional medicine names like 礞石. Visually, 磨 has a wider top, 磬 has a distinctive 殸 on the right, and 礞 has the dense 蒙 component.

礞 is rare in daily life and appears almost exclusively in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) terminology, such as 礞石 (méng shí) or 青礞石 (qīng méng shí), a mineral used in herbal formulas to treat conditions like phlegm and cough. It is not part of the HSK vocabulary, so learners will only encounter it in specialized medical texts or historical mineral references.

Common words containing 礞 include: 礞石 (méng shí) — chlorite schist (used in traditional medicine); 青礞石 (qīng méng shí) — chlorite schist (used in TCM); 金礞石 (jīn méng shí) — Chlorite schist (used in traditional medicine).