Mnemonic
A woman sees her deceased husband standing in the doorway, smiling at her. She runs to embrace him—but her arms pass through nothing. It's a delusion. Every night the woman returns to that doorway, hoping the deceased will appear again, sinking deeper into delusion.
Additional thoughts
Top component (亡) = deceased, bottom component (女) = woman. Picture a grieving widow haunted by visions of her dead husband—the grief so consuming it warps reality. The deceased hovers ABOVE the woman, like a ghost looming over her mind.Quick recall
A woman haunted by her deceased husband's ghost is trapped in delusion.Details
The keyword for 妄 is delusion. This kanji conveys the idea of reckless, unfounded, or irrational thinking—beliefs or ideas that have no basis in reality. It carries connotations of absurdity, falsehood, and wild imagination, referring to thoughts or actions driven by groundless fancy rather than reason. It is often used in contexts describing baseless assumptions, reckless behavior, or deluded states of mind.
- On'yomi
- もう、ぼう
- Kun'yomi
- みだ.りに