Character 乱

It usually means disorder; the whole word narrows the sense.

In Chinese, 乱 appears in compounds for disorder, confusion, and reckless excess: 乱七八糟 means a mess, while 混乱 means confusion. Japanese uses 乱 in compounds for disorder, war, and rough or excessive conduct; 戦乱 means war and the upheaval it brings. The surrounding word sets the scale, from a muddled situation to public turmoil.

Can 乱 mean order?

Yes; classical Chinese also uses it for governing or putting things in order.

An inscription on a bronze vessel from the early Western Zhou, an ancient Chinese dynasty, has been read as using an early form of 乱 to mean “govern” or “put in order”; the reading of that particular graph is disputed. One traditional explanation says 亂 evokes hands sorting tangled threads, linking “put in order” with the later sense “become disorderly.” In classical passages, use the period and sentence to choose the sense.

Is 乱 the same as 亂?

They are corresponding forms used by different writing standards.

乱 is the simplified Chinese form and the standard modern Japanese form. 亂 is used in traditional Chinese and was the older Japanese form, now usually replaced by 乱. They are historically related spellings; which one belongs in a text follows its language and writing standard.