Meaning of 干
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- dry
- dried food
- empty; hollow
- taken in to nominal kinship; adoptive; foster
- futile; in vain
- (dialect) rude; blunt
- (dialect) to cold-shoulder
- surname Gan
- old variant of 乾|干[gan1]
- variant of 乾|干[gan1]
How to use 干
As gān, 干 means dry or empty. It appears in common words like 干净 (gānjìng, clean) and 干杯 (gānbēi, cheers, literally "dry the cup"). It can also mean adoptive, as in 干妈 (gānmā, godmother). Example: 衣服干了。(Yīfu gān le.) The clothes are dry.
Picture 干 as a bare pole with a crossbar standing in the sun, nothing hanging on it and nothing wet left. Bare, empty, and dry: that is gān.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 干 with 千 (qiān, thousand). 千 starts with a slanted stroke on top, while 干 has a flat horizontal line. Another trap is the tone: 干 is gān (first tone) for dry, but gàn (fourth tone) for to do, as in 干什么 (gàn shénme).
干 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.
干 gān · dry · 3 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
Related words
Words that share a character with 干.
| 干什么 | gàn shénme | what are you doing?; what's he up to? |
| 干净 | gānjìng | clean; neat |
| 干杯 | gānbēi | to drink a toast; Cheers! (proposing a toast) |
| 干活儿 | gànhuór | erhua variant of 幹活|干活[gan4 huo2] |
| 干吗 | gànmá | variant of 幹嘛|干嘛[gan4 ma2] |
| 能干 | nénggàn | capable; competent |
| 饼干 | bǐnggān | biscuit; cracker; cookie |
| 干脆 | gāncuì | candid; direct and to the point |
| 干扰 | gānrǎo | to disturb; to interfere |
| 干预 | gānyù | to meddle; to intervene |
| 干涉 | gānshè | to interfere; to meddle |
| 干燥 | gānzào | (of weather, climate, soil etc) dry; arid; (of skin, mouth etc) dry |
Questions about 干
What does 干 mean?
干 (gān) means "dry; dried food" and is used as a adjective and verb.
How do you write 干?
干 is made of 1 character: 干 (3 strokes). That is 3 strokes in total.
Is 干 an HSK word?
Yes. 干 is on the HSK 1 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 干 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 干 is written 乾.
Why does 干 have two pronunciations, gān and gàn?
Simplified 干 merged two traditional characters. 乾 (gān) means dry, and 幹 (gàn) means to do or work. So 干净 is gānjìng, but 干活儿 is gànhuór and 能干 is nénggàn.
What does 干 mean in words like 干妈 or 干儿子?
Here 干 (gān) means a nominal or adoptive family tie, not a blood relation. 干妈 is a godmother or informal adoptive mother, and 干儿子 is a godson.