坎 meaning and stroke order
Pit, hole; to trap, to snare; crisis
How to write 坎, stroke by stroke
7 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
- 1
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- 4
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- 7
Meaning of 坎
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- pit
- threshold
- one of the Eight Trigrams 八卦[ba1 gua4], symbolizing water
- ☵
- old variant of 坎[kan3]
- hole
How 坎 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Earth.
土 gives the meaning and 欠 hints at the sound.
Radical: 土 (soil), shared by 183 characters on this site.
How to remember 坎
坎 combines earth 土 (meaning) with 欠 (qiàn), which gives the sound. Picture the ground 土 that is lacking 欠 something in the middle: a pit or hole in the earth.
On its own 坎 is fairly literary, but it appears in common words like 坎坷 (kǎnkě), which describes a bumpy road or a hard life. It also shows up in 门坎 (ménkǎn, threshold) and as the name of the water trigram ☵ in the Eight Trigrams. Example: 他的一生很坎坷。(Tā de yīshēng hěn kǎnkě.) His life was full of hardship.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 坎 (kǎn) with 砍 (kǎn, to chop). They sound the same, but 砍 uses the stone radical 石 and means cutting, while 坎 uses earth 土 and means a pit. Also keep the third tone. Do not read it like its phonetic part 欠 (qiàn).
Common words with 坎
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 坎坷 | kǎnkě | (of a road) bumpy; (of life) rough; to be down on one's luck; to be full of frustrations a |
Questions about 坎
How many strokes are in 坎?
坎 is written with 7 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 坎 mean?
坎 (kǎn) means pit, hole; to trap, to snare; crisis. A common word with it is 坎坷 (kǎnkě), meaning "(of a road) bumpy; (of life) rough; to be down on one's luck; to be full of frustrations a".
How do you pronounce 坎?
坎 is pronounced kǎn, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 坎?
The radical of 坎 is 土, which carries the idea of "soil". Dictionaries list 坎 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 坎?
The traditional form of 坎 is 埳. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 坎 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
What does 过不去的坎 mean?
It literally means a pit you cannot get past. People use 坎 this way for a difficult hurdle in life, as in 没有过不去的坎 (méiyǒu guò bú qù de kǎn), meaning there is no hardship you cannot get through.
Is 坎坷 only used for roads?
No. It can describe an uneven road, but it is used more often for a life or career full of setbacks, as in 命运坎坷 (mìngyùn kǎnkě), a rough fate.