Where 蛋 comes from
insect
- Meaning part
- 虫 (“lower form of animal life”)
- Sound part
- 延 (“to prolong”)
How to write 蛋 (dàn, “egg”)
蛋 (dàn), an HSK 1 character, means “egg” and “oval-shaped thing”. It pairs a meaning part, 虫 (“lower form of animal life”), with a sound part, 延 (“to prolong”). Among the HSK words it appears in 鸡蛋 (“(chicken) egg”), 蛋糕 (“cake”) and 蛋白质 (“protein”). Japanese reads it tan, “barbarian”.
- Pinyin
- dàn
- Strokes
- 11
- HSK
- 1
- Radical
- 虫 (“lower form of animal life”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
As a top-bottom character it splits into 疋 (“foot”), strokes 1–5; 虫 (“lower form of animal life”, the radical), strokes 6–11, written the top first.
- Horizontal hook ㇖top leftrightwards → down and left
- Vertical ㇑topdown and right → downwards
- Horizontal ㇐toprightwards
- Left-falling stroke ㇒top leftdown and left
- Right-falling stroke ㇏top leftrightwards
- Vertical ㇑leftdown and right
- Horizontal-turn ㇕leftrightwards → down and left
- Horizontal ㇐bottomrightwards
- Vertical ㇑centerdownwards
- Rising stroke ㇀bottom leftrightwards
- Dot ㇔bottomdown and right
Japanese and Chinese
Japanese and Chinese draw all 11 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.
Trace it
Follow the numbers. Tracing help
Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| dàn fourth tone | egg; oval-shaped thing; variant of 蜑 (Dàn) | — | 鸡蛋 蛋糕 蛋白质 笨蛋 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 1
- 2021 standard
- level 1
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 2 word
- Words with it
- 130 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 蛋
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 鸡蛋 雞蛋 | jīdàn | (chicken) egg; hen's egg HSK 1 |
| 蛋糕 | dàngāo | cake HSK 3 |
| 蛋白质 蛋白質 | dànbáizhì | protein HSK 6 |
| 笨蛋 | bèndàn | (mild insult) fool; idiot HSK 7-9 |
| 下蛋 | xiàdàn | to lay eggs |
| 喜蛋 | xǐdàn | red-painted eggs, traditional celebratory gift on third day after… |
| 蛋包 | dànbāo | omelet |
| 蛋白 | dànbái | egg white; protein |
| 蛋鸡 蛋雞 | dànjī | laying hen |
| 白蛋白 | báidànbái | albumin |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
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Keep going
HSK 1, in list order: