榄 meaning and stroke order
Olive
How to write 榄, stroke by stroke
13 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 榄
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (bound form) olive
How 榄 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Tree.
木 gives the meaning and 览 hints at the sound.
Radical: 木 (tree), shared by 388 characters on this site.
How to remember 榄
榄 is a pictophonetic character: 木 (tree) on the left tells you it is a plant, and 览 (lǎn, to look at) on the right gives the sound. Picture yourself looking (览) up at an olive tree (木) to remember lǎn.
榄 is a bound form, so it almost never appears alone. You will see it in 橄榄 (gǎnlǎn, olive) and words built on it, like 橄榄油 (gǎnlǎnyóu, olive oil) and 橄榄球 (gǎnlǎnqiú, rugby or American football). Example: 我做菜用橄榄油。(Wǒ zuò cài yòng gǎnlǎnyóu.) I cook with olive oil.
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 榄 with 揽 (lǎn, to embrace or take on), which has the same sound and right side but a hand radical 扌 instead of 木. If the meaning is a fruit or tree, use 木.
Common words with 榄
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
榄 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 榄
How many strokes are in 榄?
榄 is written with 13 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 榄 mean?
榄 (lǎn) means olive. A common word with it is 橄榄球 (gǎnlǎnqiú), meaning "football played with oval-shaped ball (rugby, American football, Australian rules etc)".
How do you pronounce 榄?
榄 is pronounced lǎn, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 榄?
The radical of 榄 is 木, which carries the idea of "tree". Dictionaries list 榄 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 榄?
The traditional form of 榄 is 欖. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 榄 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Can I say 榄 by itself to mean olive?
No. On its own 榄 sounds incomplete. Always say 橄榄 (gǎnlǎn) for olive.
Why does 橄榄球 mean football or rugby?
The ball used in rugby and American football is oval, like an olive, so it is called an olive ball. Soccer is a different word, 足球 (zúqiú).