Luan, which can signify a rich spectrum of chaos, confusion, mess and hubbub, is wonderfully combined with several double characters.
The main one featured is luanfenfen, meaning ‘disorderly, confused, chaotic, tumultuous’.  By extension, we have luanhonghong: in an uproar, a hubbub, tumultuous (the square you see in the ‘hong’ character is a mouth, signifying sound). Luanpengpeng is how your hair looks when you escape a luanfenfen situation: dishevelled or tangled, and it can also mean ‘jumbled’. Not to be confused with luantengteng meaning confused, upset, or hot and bothered, which could be another effect of getting caught up in a luanfenfen moment.
Lastly, there are times when you watch the news and you can’t help feeling the world is luanzaozao, chaotic, in a mess, which can leave you feeling equally luanzaozao, confused and perturbed.
Confused? You should be.
