塔 meaning in English
pagoda (abbr. for 塔婆[ta3 po2], a loanword from Sanskrit stūpa); tower; pylon (CL:座[zuo4]); (loanword) (pastry) tart
Meaning of 塔
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- pagoda (abbr. for 塔婆[ta3 po2], a loanword from Sanskrit stūpa); tower; pylon (CL:座[zuo4])
- (loanword) (pastry) tart
- old variant of 塔[ta3]
How to use 塔
塔 means a pagoda, tower, or pylon, and it often appears in compounds like 灯塔 (dēngtǎ, lighthouse) and 金字塔 (jīnzìtǎ, pyramid). The measure word is 座 (zuò). Example: 山上有一座塔。(Shān shàng yǒu yí zuò tǎ.) There is a pagoda on the mountain.
塔 has 土 (earth) on the left, a reminder that towers and pagodas are built up from the ground. Picture a tall structure of earth and brick rising toward the sky.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes say tà or tā instead of the third tone tǎ. Also, do not use 个 as the measure word in careful speech; 座 (zuò) is the standard choice for buildings like 塔.
塔 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
塔 tǎ · pagoda · 12 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 塔.
Questions about 塔
What does 塔 mean?
塔 (tǎ) means "pagoda (abbr. for 塔婆[ta3 po2], a loanword from Sanskrit stūpa); tower; pylon (CL:座[zuo4]); (loanword) (pastry) tart" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 塔?
塔 is made of 1 character: 塔 (12 strokes). That is 12 strokes in total.
Is 塔 an HSK word?
Yes. 塔 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does 塔 appear in words like 贝塔 and 蛋塔?
塔 is also used to write foreign sounds. 贝塔 (bèitǎ) is the Greek letter beta, and 塔 can mean a pastry tart, as in 蛋塔 (dàntǎ, egg tart).
What is the difference between 塔 and 塔楼?
塔 is a standalone tower or pagoda. 塔楼 (tǎlóu) usually means a tower that is part of a larger building, such as a castle or church tower.