Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

to forget; to overlook; to neglect

Chinese: 忘记、忽略、疏忽。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “wang” becomes a different word in each tone. 忘 is the 4th tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.

Stroke Order

Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.

Common Words

  • 忘记wàng jìto forget
  • 难忘nán wàngunforgettable
  • 备忘录bèi wàng lùmemorandum; aide-memoire; memorandum book
  • 遗忘yí wàngto forget; to cease to think about (sb or sth) anymore
  • 忘掉wàng diàoto forget

Example Sentence

我忘记带作业了。Wǒ wàng jì dài zuò yè le.I forgot to bring my homework.

I忘记wàng jìto forgetdàiband作业zuò yèschool assignmentle(completed action)

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

亡 (to lose) over 心 (heart): the heart lets something slip away. It means ‘to forget’.

A way to remember it

Loss sitting on the heart — forgotten.

Easy to confuse with

  • máng‘Busy’: the same 亡 and heart, but the heart is on the LEFT (忄), giving ‘busy’.