干 meaning and stroke order
Dry; dried food; empty; hollow
How to write 干, stroke by stroke
3 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
- 2
- 3
Meaning of 干
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- dry
- dried food
- empty; hollow
- taken in to nominal kinship; adoptive; foster
- futile; in vain
- (dialect) rude; blunt
- tree trunk
- main part of sth
- to manage
- to work
- to do
- capable
How 干 is built
Pictographic character. A club or axe.
Radical: 十 (ten), shared by 23 characters on this site.
How to remember 干
干 is a picture of a club or axe: a long handle with a crossbar near the top. Picture holding this tool to do hard work, gàn (to do), or using it to chop dry wood, gān (dry).
With the first tone, 干 (gān) means dry, as in 干净 (gānjìng, clean) and 饼干 (bǐnggān, biscuit). With the fourth tone, 干 (gàn) means to do or to work, as in the very common question 你在干什么？(Nǐ zài gàn shénme?) What are you doing?
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 干 with 千 (qiān, thousand) and 于 (yú). 干 has a flat first stroke on top, 千 starts with a slanted stroke, and 于 has a hook at the bottom of the vertical. Also watch the tone: 干杯 is gānbēi, but 干活 is gànhuó.
Common words with 干
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 干什么 | gàn shénme | what are you doing?; what's he up to? | HSK 1 |
| 干净 | gānjìng | clean; neat | HSK 1 |
| 干杯 | gānbēi | to drink a toast; Cheers! (proposing a toast) | HSK 2 |
| 干活儿 | gànhuór | erhua variant of 幹活|干活[gan4 huo2] | HSK 2 |
| 干吗 | gànmá | variant of 幹嘛|干嘛[gan4 ma2] | HSK 3 |
| 能干 | nénggàn | capable; competent | HSK 4 |
| 饼干 | bǐnggān | biscuit; cracker; cookie | HSK 5 |
| 干脆 | gāncuì | candid; direct and to the point | HSK 5 |
| 干扰 | gānrǎo | to disturb; to interfere | HSK 5 |
| 干预 | gānyù | to meddle; to intervene | HSK 5 |
| 干涉 | gānshè | to interfere; to meddle | HSK 6 |
| 干燥 | gānzào | (of weather, climate, soil etc) dry; arid; (of skin, mouth etc) dry | HSK 7-9 |
| 干旱 | gānhàn | drought; (of land, climate etc) arid; dry | HSK 7-9 |
| 一干二净 | yīgān-èrjìng | thoroughly (idiom); completely | HSK 7-9 |
干 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 干
Learning 干 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 干
How many strokes are in 干?
干 is written with 3 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 干 mean?
干 (gān) means dry; dried food; empty; hollow. A common word with it is 干什么 (gàn shénme), meaning "what are you doing?; what's he up to?".
How do you pronounce 干?
干 has more than one reading: gān and gàn. The most common is gān, said in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 干?
The radical of 干 is 十, which carries the idea of "ten". Dictionaries list 干 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 干?
The traditional form of 干 is 乹, 乾, 亁 and 幹. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 干 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 干 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 干 is part of the HSK 1 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 1.
How do I know whether to say gān or gàn?
Think about the meaning. If it is about dryness, emptiness, or adoptive family, use gān. If it is about doing, working, being capable, or a main trunk, use gàn.
What does 干 mean in words like 干妈?
Here 干 (gān) means nominal or adoptive kinship. 干妈 (gānmā) is a godmother, someone treated like a mother without a blood relation.