膳 meaning and stroke order
Meals, provisions
How to write 膳, stroke by stroke
16 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 膳
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- meals
- variant of 膳[shan4]
How 膳 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Meat.
⺼ gives the meaning and 善 hints at the sound.
Radical: ⺼ (meat), shared by 176 characters on this site.
How to remember 膳
膳 is meat ⺼ on the left with 善 (shàn, good) on the right, which also gives the sound. Think of good meat served at the table: a proper meal.
膳 is a formal, written word and rarely appears alone in speech. You see it in compounds like 膳食 (shànshí, meals; diet), 早膳 (zǎoshàn, breakfast, literary), and 药膳 (yàoshàn, medicinal cuisine). Example: 医院很注意病人的膳食。(Yīyuàn hěn zhùyì bìngrén de shànshí.) The hospital pays close attention to the patients' diet.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write 善 alone when they mean 膳, since both are read shàn. 善 means good or kind, while 膳 needs the meat radical ⺼ on the left to mean meals.
Common words with 膳
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 膳食 | shànshí | meals; food | HSK 7-9 |
膳 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 膳
How many strokes are in 膳?
膳 is written with 16 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 膳 mean?
膳 (shàn) means meals, provisions. A common word with it is 膳食 (shànshí), meaning "meals; food".
How do you pronounce 膳?
膳 is pronounced shàn, in the fourth tone (falling).
What is the radical of 膳?
The radical of 膳 is ⺼, which carries the idea of "meat". Dictionaries list 膳 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 膳?
The traditional form of 膳 is 饍. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 膳 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 膳 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 膳 is part of the HSK 7-9 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard.
Can I use 膳 in everyday conversation to say meal?
Usually not. In daily speech people say 饭 (fàn) or 餐 (cān). 膳 sounds formal or old-fashioned and appears mostly in set words like 膳食 or on restaurant and hospital signs.
What does 膳食 mean in nutrition contexts?
膳食 often means diet in a nutritional sense, as in 膳食纤维 (shànshí xiānwéi, dietary fiber) and 均衡膳食 (jūnhéng shànshí, a balanced diet). You will see it on food labels and in health articles.