Learn one Chinese Character a day - 闷 | 悶

Have you tried to guess the meaning of 闷 | 悶 ? Obviously it is composed of a heart (心) and a door (门 | 門). 

Referring to Oracle drawing of 門, it is a two-panels door, which is closed, 闷 | 悶 should be created to represent the idea of  having a heart (心) inside a closed door (门 | 門) . So what does 闷 | 悶 mean? A picture explains better than a thousand words, as shown below:

闷 | 悶

And its evolution history might help us to understand its meaning better, as shown below: (image taken from http://vividict.com)

evolution history of 闷 | 悶

It has been pretty much the same presentation from its Bronze Script till its current form. For example its Seal Script is exactly composed with the same components:  and .

When somebody closes his heart, it means he cannot / wont express his emotions to others, thus become unhappy. 闷 | 悶 is thus used to mean depressed; bored; in low spirit. For example, 闷闷不乐. Like the image shown below:

闷闷不乐

When somebody got depressed, he would have the kind of feeling that he cannot breathe properly. Thus 闷 | 悶 is also used to mean airtight；sealed；covered, or to describe an environment or situation which makes people becoming depressed or hard to breathe. For example: 闷热

That is all, time to enjoy a Chinese calligraphy with 闷 | 悶 inside:

助林泉逸兴，舒胸襟孤闷。