How to Write 酩 (mǐng) — Meaning “tipsy or drunk”

Imagine a wine bottle (酉) on the left, and on the right, a person (名) who has had too much to drink and cannot remember their own name. This image of forgetting your name after drinking can help you recall 酩 as "tipsy."

Write the left radical 酉 first, with the horizontal stroke at the top and the inner two short strokes. Then write the right part 名, starting with the top left dot and the curved stroke, followed by 口 and the bottom 夕. A common mistake is making the 酉 too wide or forgetting the inner two strokes; keep the left part narrow and balanced.

酩 is specifically used in the word 酩酊 meaning "intoxicated." In contrast, 酕 (máo) is extremely rare and may appear in ancient texts for a type of alcoholic drink, while 酖 (dān) means "addicted to drinking" or "poisoned by alcohol." Visually, 酕 has 毛 on the right instead of 名, and 酖 has 冘 (a variant of 尤) on the right.

酩 rarely appears alone but is used in the two-character expression 酩酊 (mǐng dǐng), meaning "dead drunk." It is often found in literary descriptions or idioms like 酩酊大醉, which describes someone stumbling or completely unconscious from drinking. Culturally, it conveys a state of heavy intoxication, not just slightly tipsy.

Common words containing 酩 include: 酩酊 (mǐng dǐng) — intoxicated; 酩酊大醉 (mǐng dǐng dà zuì) — dead drunk; 酩酊而归 (mǐng dǐng ér guī) — to return home drunk.