烂 meaning and stroke order
Soft; mushy; well-cooked and soft; to rot; to decompose
How to write 烂, stroke by stroke
9 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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- 9
Meaning of 烂
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- soft; mushy
- well-cooked and soft
- to rot; to decompose
- rotten
- worn out
- chaotic; messy
How 烂 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Fire.
火 gives the meaning and 兰 hints at the sound.
Radical: 火 (fire), shared by 128 characters on this site.
How to remember 烂
Put food over fire 火 for too long and it turns soft and mushy. The right side 兰 (lán) gives the sound, close to làn.
烂 describes food cooked very soft, fruit that has gone bad, or things that are worn out or badly done. In casual speech it also means poor quality, like a bad movie or bad skills. Example: 这个苹果烂了。(Zhège píngguǒ làn le.) This apple has gone rotten.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 烂 (làn) with 栏 (lán, railing) and 拦 (lán, to block), which share the same 兰 part. Remember that 烂 has the fire radical 火 and a fourth tone.
Common words with 烂
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 腐烂 | fǔlàn | to rot; to putrefy | HSK 7-9 |
| 灿烂 | cànlàn | to glitter; brilliant | HSK 7-9 |
| 破烂 | pòlàn | worn-out; dilapidated; tattered; ragged; (coll.) rubbish; junk | |
| 烂摊子 | làntānzi | terrible mess; shambles | |
| 烂透 | làntòu | rotten to the core | |
| 烂醉 | lànzuì | dead drunk; completely drunk | |
| 砸烂 | zálàn | to smash | |
| 烂泥 | lànní | mud; mire | |
| 烂醉如泥 | lànzuìrúní | (idiom) to be dead drunk; to be plastered | |
| 撕烂 | sīlàn | to tear up; to tear to pieces | |
| 稀巴烂 | xībālàn | smashed up; broken into pieces | |
| 焦头烂额 | jiāotóulàn'é | lit. badly burned about the head (from trying to put out a fire) (idiom); fig. hard-presse | |
| 死缠烂打 | sǐchánlàndǎ | (coll.) to pester; to harass |
烂 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 烂
How many strokes are in 烂?
烂 is written with 9 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 烂 mean?
烂 (làn) means soft; mushy; well-cooked and soft; to rot; to decompose. A common word with it is 腐烂 (fǔlàn), meaning "to rot; to putrefy".
How do you pronounce 烂?
烂 is pronounced làn, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 烂?
The radical of 烂 is 火, which carries the idea of "fire". Dictionaries list 烂 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 烂?
The traditional form of 烂 is 爛. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 烂 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 烂 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 烂 is part of the HSK 5 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does 灿烂 (cànlàn) mean brilliant if 烂 means rotten?
In 灿烂 the fire meaning comes through, describing something blazing and bright, like 阳光灿烂 (yángguāng cànlàn), bright sunshine. It is a fixed word, so do not read it as rotten.
Can 烂 be used to say something is bad quality?
Yes, in casual speech 烂 means terrible or lousy, as in 他的中文很烂 (tā de Zhōngwén hěn làn), his Chinese is awful. It sounds blunt, so be careful using it about people directly.