掂 meaning and stroke order
To heft, to weigh; to hold in the palm
How to write 掂, stroke by stroke
11 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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- 11
Meaning of 掂
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- to weigh in the hand
- to estimate
How 掂 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Hand.
扌 gives the meaning and 店 hints at the sound.
Radical: 扌 (hand), shared by 342 characters on this site.
How to remember 掂
A hand 扌 on the left and 店 (diàn, shop) on the right: picture a shopkeeper in a shop bouncing goods in his hand to judge their weight. The hand gives the meaning, and 店 gives the sound diān.
掂 (diān) means to weigh something by bouncing it in your palm, and by extension to size up or estimate. It often appears as 掂量 (diānliang) or 掂一掂, and the Cantonese-origin 搞掂 (gǎodiān) means to get something sorted. 他把西瓜掂了掂。(Tā bǎ xīguā diān le diān.) He hefted the watermelon in his hand.
Common mistake: Learners often read 掂 with the fourth tone like its phonetic 店 (diàn), but 掂 is first tone, diān. It is also easy to mix up with 惦 (diàn, to keep in mind), which has the heart radical 忄 instead of the hand 扌.
Common words with 掂
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 搞掂 | gǎodiān | to get sth done; to sort sth out (from Cantonese) |
Questions about 掂
How many strokes are in 掂?
掂 is written with 11 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 掂 mean?
掂 (diān) means to heft, to weigh; to hold in the palm. A common word with it is 搞掂 (gǎodiān), meaning "to get sth done; to sort sth out (from Cantonese)".
How do you pronounce 掂?
掂 is pronounced diān, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 掂?
The radical of 掂 is 扌, which carries the idea of "hand". Dictionaries list 掂 under this radical.
What does 掂量 mean?
掂量 (diānliang) literally means to weigh something in the hand. Figuratively it means to think something over or weigh the pros and cons, as in 你自己掂量吧 (nǐ zìjǐ diānliang ba), you think it over yourself.
Is 搞掂 used in standard Mandarin?
搞掂 comes from Cantonese and is most common in southern China and Hong Kong. Many Mandarin speakers understand it in casual speech, but 搞定 (gǎodìng) is the more standard choice.