蓝 meaning and stroke order
Blue; indigo plant
How to write 蓝, 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.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
Meaning of 蓝
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- blue
- indigo plant
How 蓝 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Plant.
艹 gives the meaning and 监 hints at the sound.
Radical: 艹 (grass), shared by 421 characters on this site.
How to remember 蓝
The grass radical 艹 on top marks a plant, and 监 (jiān) below gives the sound. Picture the indigo plant, whose leaves were used to make blue dye, so the plant name became the color.
蓝 usually appears in compounds rather than alone, most often 蓝色 (lánsè) for the color blue. It also shows up in words like 蓝天 (lán tiān, blue sky) and 蓝图 (lántú, blueprint). Example: 今天的天很蓝。(Jīntiān de tiān hěn lán.) The sky is very blue today.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 蓝 (lán) with 篮 (lán, basket), as in 篮球 (lánqiú, basketball). They sound the same, but 篮 has the bamboo radical ⺮ on top instead of grass 艹.
Common words with 蓝
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
蓝 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 蓝
How many strokes are in 蓝?
蓝 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 蓝 mean?
蓝 (lán) means blue; indigo plant. A common word with it is 蓝色 (lánsè), meaning "blue (color)".
How do you pronounce 蓝?
蓝 is pronounced lán, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 蓝?
The radical of 蓝 is 艹, which carries the idea of "grass". Dictionaries list 蓝 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 蓝?
The traditional form of 蓝 is 藍. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 蓝 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Is 蓝 on the HSK exam?
Yes. 蓝 is part of the HSK 2 character list in the HSK 3.0 standard, and you are expected to write it by hand from HSK 2.
What is the difference between 蓝 and 青?
蓝 is the everyday word for blue. 青 (qīng) is an older color word that can mean blue, green, or a blue-green shade depending on context, as in 青山 (qīngshān, green hills).
Does 甘蓝 mean something blue?
No. 甘蓝 (gānlán) means cabbage or a related vegetable such as Chinese broccoli. Here 蓝 keeps its old plant meaning rather than the color meaning.