漫 means “rambling, aimless, comic”

まん · man

Also: cartoon, involuntarily, unrestrained, in spite of oneself

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

みだりに, そぞろ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

マン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 14 strokes

The story

Water (氵) spreading on and on (曼): flowing wherever it likes. 漫 is the free, loose line of 漫画, manga, and of 漫才, the comedy double act Osaka made famous, while 散漫 is a mind that drifts off.

Used in 漫画 (manga, comics), 漫才 (manzai, comedy double act), and 散漫 (sanman, distracted/scattered)

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Learn 漫 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

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