蒙
mēng , méng · HSK 6
to cover
🙈 艹 grass + 冖 cover over a beast — blanketed and ignorant
The cover radical 冖 sits between grass 艹 on top and a pig-like form below. Everything is blanketed — covered up, kept ignorant. Extends to suffering or receiving passively, as if under a blanket of fate.
蒙 — grass 艹 + cover 冖 + one 一 + pig 豕
Originally depicted a parasitic dodder vine (the 'covered' plant) growing over another plant, hence the sense of covering or concealing. The character later extended to mean 'to deceive' or 'cover the eyes,' and by extension 'ignorant' or 'dim.' The 艹 top hints at the plant origin while the lower elements suggest something hidden beneath.