坛 meaning and stroke order
Altar; platform; rostrum; (bound form) (sporting, literary etc) circles; world
How to write 坛, 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.
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Meaning of 坛
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- altar
- platform; rostrum
- (bound form) (sporting, literary etc) circles; world
- earthen jar
How 坛 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Earth.
土 gives the meaning and 云 hints at the sound.
Radical: 土 (soil), shared by 183 characters on this site.
How to remember 坛
坛 is built from 土 (tǔ, earth), the meaning part, and 云 (yún), the sound part. Picture a raised mound of earth 土 reaching up toward the clouds 云, where people once made offerings: an altar.
坛 (tán) means an altar or raised platform, and by extension a whole field of public activity, like 文坛 (wéntán, literary world) or 政坛 (zhèngtán, political circles). It also means an earthen jar, as in 酒坛 (jiǔtán, wine jar). Example: 我常在网上论坛发帖。(Wǒ cháng zài wǎngshàng lùntán fā tiě.) I often post on online forums.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes confuse 坛 (tán) with 坏 (huài, bad), since both start with 土 and have a short right side. Also keep the second tone: 坛 is tán, not tàn as in 叹 (tàn, to sigh).
Common words with 坛
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
坛 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 坛
How many strokes are in 坛?
坛 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 坛 mean?
坛 (tán) means altar; platform; rostrum; (bound form) (sporting, literary etc) circles; world. A common word with it is 论坛 (lùntán), meaning "forum (for discussion)".
How do you pronounce 坛?
坛 is pronounced tán, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 坛?
The radical of 坛 is 土, which carries the idea of "soil". Dictionaries list 坛 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 坛?
The traditional form of 坛 is 壇 and 罈. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 坛 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 坛 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 坛 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does 坛 mean both altar and jar?
In traditional Chinese these were two different characters: 壇 for altar and platform, and 罈 for earthen jar. Simplified Chinese merged both into 坛, so context tells you which meaning is intended.
How do I say a field or circle like the sports world using 坛?
Add 坛 after a word for the field: 体坛 (tǐtán) is the sports world, 文坛 (wéntán) the literary world, and 影坛 (yǐngtán) the film world. These are common in news and formal writing but sound a bit formal in casual speech.