詹 meaning and stroke order
Talkative, verbose; surname
How to write 詹, 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 詹
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- (literary) verbose
- (literary) to arrive, to reach
How 詹 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Speech.
言 gives the meaning and 厂 hints at the sound.
Radical: 言 (words), shared by 155 characters on this site.
How to remember 詹
Under a cliff 厂 (hàn), the 八 marks spread out like sound waves, and below them is 言 (yán), speech. Picture someone talking so much under the cliff that their words echo everywhere, which fits the old sense of being verbose.
Today 詹 is mostly seen as a surname and in transliterated foreign names. Its literary meanings of verbose and to arrive survive only in classical texts. Example: 詹姆斯是我的同事。(Zhānmǔsī shì wǒ de tóngshì.) James is my colleague.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 詹 with 瞻 (zhān, to look up at, as in 瞻仰), which has the same sound but adds 目 (eye) on the left. Both are first tone, so the meaning depends on whether the eye component is there.
詹 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Characters that contain 詹
Learning 詹 makes these easier to recognize and write.
Questions about 詹
How many strokes are in 詹?
詹 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 詹 mean?
詹 (zhān) means talkative, verbose; surname.
How do you pronounce 詹?
詹 is pronounced zhān, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 詹?
The radical of 詹 is 言, which carries the idea of "words". Dictionaries list 詹 under this radical.
Why is 詹 used in names like James?
Chinese transliterates foreign names by sound, and 詹 (zhān) is a close match for the first syllable of James. That is why James is written 詹姆斯 (Zhānmǔsī), as in the basketball player LeBron James.
Is 詹 a common Chinese surname?
Yes, 詹 is a real surname, though not among the most common ones. A well-known example is the railway engineer 詹天佑 (Zhān Tiānyòu).