慢 means “conceit, slack”

まん · man

Also: ridicule, laziness

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

マン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 14 strokes

The story

The heart (忄) beside 曼, stretched out long: a self swollen too big. 自慢 is bragging, 傲慢 is arrogance, and 我慢, patience, was once a Buddhist word for pride in the self before it came to mean gritting your teeth.

Used in 我慢 (gaman, endurance/patience), 自慢 (jiman, boasting), and 慢性 (mansei, chronic)

More from Vice & Folly

• 狂 go mad
• 愚 foolish
• 俗 worldly
• 邪 wicked
• 劣 inferior
• 痴 foolish
• 怠 lazy
• 弊 harm
• 癖 habit
• 卑 lowly
• 堕 fall
• 恣 arbitrary

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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.