壇 meaning and stroke order
Altar; arena; examination hall
How to write 壇, stroke by stroke
16 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 壇
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- altar
- platform; rostrum
- (bound form) (sporting, literary etc) circles; world
How 壇 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Earth.
土 gives the meaning and 亶 hints at the sound.
Radical: 土 (soil), shared by 183 characters on this site.
How to remember 壇
壇 is built from 土 (tǔ, earth), which gives the meaning, and 亶 (dǎn), which hints at the sound. Picture a raised mound of packed earth 土 where people once stood to make offerings: an altar or platform.
壇 (tán) means an altar or raised platform, and by extension a field or circle of people, such as the literary world or political circles. It appears mostly in compounds like 论坛 (lùntán, forum) and 政坛 (zhèngtán, political circles). Example: 他在文坛很有名。(Tā zài wéntán hěn yǒumíng.) He is well known in literary circles.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 壇 with 檀 (tán, sandalwood), which has the same sound and the same right side but uses 木 (wood) instead of 土 (earth). Remember that an altar or platform is made of earth, so it takes 土.
Common words with 壇
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
Questions about 壇
How many strokes are in 壇?
壇 is written with 16 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 壇 mean?
壇 (tán) means altar; arena; examination hall. A common word with it is 论坛 (lùntán), meaning "forum (for discussion)".
How do you pronounce 壇?
壇 is pronounced tán, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 壇?
The radical of 壇 is 土, which carries the idea of "soil". Dictionaries list 壇 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 壇?
壇 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 坛, used in mainland China and Singapore.
What is the difference between 壇 and 坛 in simplified Chinese?
In simplified Chinese, both 壇 (altar) and 罈 (jar) are written 坛. So 坛 can mean a platform or a clay jar, and context tells you which. 壇 itself is the form you see in traditional texts.
How do I say a sports or entertainment field using 壇?
Put a field word in front of it: 体坛 (tǐtán) means the sports world, and 影坛 (yǐngtán) means the film world. These words are common in news headlines.