谭 meaning and stroke order
Surname
How to write 谭, stroke by stroke
14 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 谭
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- variant of 談|谈[tan2]
How 谭 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Speech.
讠 gives the meaning and 覃 hints at the sound.
Radical: 讠 (words), shared by 144 characters on this site.
How to remember 谭
谭 combines the speech radical 讠 with 覃 (tán), which gives the sound. Picture people talking (讠) at length, which fits its old meaning of "talk," a variant of 谈 (tán).
Today 谭 is used mainly as a surname, as in the common name 谭 (Tán). It also appears in the set phrase 天方夜谭 (Tiānfāng Yètán), the Chinese title of The Arabian Nights, which people use for a wild, unbelievable story. Example: 你说的简直是天方夜谭。(Nǐ shuō de jiǎnzhí shì tiānfāng yètán.) What you are saying is pure fantasy.
Common mistake: Learners often write 天方夜谈 with 谈 instead of 谭. The standard form of the idiom uses 谭, even though both characters are read tán with the second tone.
Common words with 谭
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 天方夜谭 | TiānfāngYètán | fantasy story |
谭 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 谭
How many strokes are in 谭?
谭 is written with 14 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 谭 mean?
谭 (tán) means surname. A common word with it is 天方夜谭 (TiānfāngYètán), meaning "fantasy story".
How do you pronounce 谭?
谭 is pronounced tán, in the second tone (rising).
What is the radical of 谭?
The radical of 谭 is 讠, which carries the idea of "words". Dictionaries list 谭 under this radical.
What is the traditional form of 谭?
The traditional form of 谭 is 譚. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 谭 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.
Can I use 谭 instead of 谈 to mean talk in everyday writing?
No. In modern Chinese, 谈 (tán) is the normal character for talk, as in 谈话 (tánhuà). 谭 keeps that meaning only in fixed expressions like 天方夜谭.
How do you introduce yourself with the surname 谭?
You can say 我姓谭 (Wǒ xìng Tán), meaning my surname is Tan. To make it clear in speech, people sometimes say 言字旁的谭 to show it has the speech radical.