欖 meaning and stroke order
Olive
How to write 欖, stroke by stroke
25 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 欖
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (bound form) olive
How 欖 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Tree.
木 gives the meaning and 覽 hints at the sound.
Radical: 木 (tree), shared by 388 characters on this site.
How to remember 欖
欖 combines 木 (tree) with 覽 (lǎn, to look at), which gives the sound. Picture yourself looking up at an olive tree, and the sound lǎn comes from 覽.
欖 is a bound form and almost never appears alone. It shows up in 橄欖 (gǎnlǎn, olive) and in words built from it, like 橄欖油 (gǎnlǎnyóu, olive oil) and 橄欖球 (gǎnlǎnqiú, rugby or American football). Example: 我做菜用橄欖油。(Wǒ zuò cài yòng gǎnlǎnyóu.) I cook with olive oil.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write 攬 (lǎn, to embrace) with the hand radical 扌 instead of 木, since both share the 覽 component and the same sound. The olive is a tree, so use 木.
Common words with 欖
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
Questions about 欖
How many strokes are in 欖?
欖 is written with 25 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 欖 mean?
欖 (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 欖?
欖 is pronounced lǎn, in the third tone (dipping).
What is the radical of 欖?
The radical of 欖 is 木, which carries the idea of "tree". Dictionaries list 欖 under this radical.
What is the simplified form of 欖?
欖 is a traditional character. Its simplified form is 榄, used in mainland China and Singapore.
Why does 橄欖球 mean rugby or football?
The oval ball looks like an olive, so Chinese calls it an olive ball. It can refer to rugby, American football, or Australian rules football depending on context.
Is 橄欖 the same fruit as a Western olive?
橄欖 originally names the Chinese olive, a different fruit eaten fresh or preserved in southern China. Today it is also used for the Mediterranean olive, as in 橄欖油.