安 (ān): safe, peace

安 (ān) is a Chinese character meaning “safe, peace.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 宀 (structural) and 女 (structural). It ranks #232 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 安 a woman 女 safe in a house 宀. Its radical form 宀 (roof) appears in many related characters such as 客 (kè, guest, customer), 家 (jiā, home, family), 它 (tā, it).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. safe, peace

Etymology & Origin

安

ideographicA woman 女 safe in a house 宀

Decomposition: ⿱宀女 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

Practice writing 安 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 安

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
安全adjectiveān quánsafe3
晚安verbwǎn ānGood night!4
安排verbān páito arrange4
安静adjectiveān jìngquiet3
保安verb/nounbǎo ānto ensure public security5
安慰verb/adjectiveān wèito comfort5
不安adjectivebù ānunpeaceful6
平安adjectivepíng ānsafe and sound5
安全带nounān quán dàiseat belt5
安装verbān zhuāngto install5
安检verbān jiǎnsecurity check (abbr. for 安全檢查|安全检查)4
公安noungōng ān(Ministry of) Public Security6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
安娜proper-nounān nàAnna (name)
治安nounzhì ānlaw and order
印第安adjectiveyìn dì ān(American) Indian
早安interjectionzǎo ānGood morning!
安妮proper-nounān nīAnnie (name)
安息verbān xīto rest
安心verbān xīnat ease
安全感nounān quán gǎnsense of security
安东尼proper-nounān dōng níAnthony (name)
安定adjectiveān dìngstable
安宁adjectiveān níngpeaceful
安置verbān zhìto find a place for
安保nounān bǎosecurity
安德鲁proper-nounān dé lǔAndrew (name)
安眠药nounān mián yàosleeping pill
127
Total compounds
61
As first character
33
As last character
6
As middle character

安 appears in 127 compound words: 61 as the first character, 33 as the last, and 6 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 安 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

徽huī
0.54849,105 co-occurrences
慰wèi
0.51011,484 co-occurrences
蒋jiǎng
0.50886 co-occurrences
全quán
0.504222,702 co-occurrences
装zhuāng
0.48438,082 co-occurrences
排pái
0.45494,926 co-occurrences
葬zàng
0.45215,786 co-occurrences
保bǎo
0.43159,512 co-occurrences
淮huái
0.4317,294 co-occurrences
抚fǔ
0.4296,180 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (55)

埃尔多安Āi'ěrduō'ān

a transliteration of the Turkish surname Erdoğan

安邦定国ānbāngdìngguóHSK 7+

to bring peace and stability to a country

phrase
安达曼海Āndámàn Hǎi

Andaman Sea

安大略湖Āndàlüè HúHSK 6+

Ontario, Lake Ontario (a large lake in North America, one of the Great Lakes)

安非他命ānfēitāmìngHSK 4+

amphetamine

noun
安分守己ānfènshǒujǐHSK 5+

to abide by the law and do one's duty; to be content with one's lot

phrase
安富恤贫ān fù xù pínHSK 7+

to give sympathy to the rich and relief to the poor (idiom)

phrase
安富恤穷ān fù xù qióngHSK 7+

to give sympathy to the rich and relief to the poor (idiom)

phrase
安富尊荣ān fù zūn róngHSK 5+

well-off and respected (idiom); to be content with one's wealth and position

phrase
安家落户ānjiāluòhùHSK 4+

to set up home in a new place; to settle in a new place

phrase
安克拉治ĀnkèlāzhìHSK 5+

Anchorage (a city in Alaska, United States)

安克雷奇ĀnkèléiqíHSK 6+

Anchorage (a city in Alaska, United States)

Showing 12 of 55 idioms containing 安.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

安全第一,工作时必须佩戴好防护装备。

Ānquán dì yī, gōngzuò shí bìxū pèidài hǎo fánghù zhuāngbèi.

Safety first; protective equipment must be worn when working.

百度新闻Feb 2026

宁远县城管局:禁燃禁放不松懈 守护平安祥和年

nìng yuǎn xiàn chéng guǎn jú jīn rán jīn fàng bù sōng xiè shǒu hù píng ān xiáng hé nián

Ningyuan County Urban Management Bureau: ban on burning and discharge of no slack guarding the peace and tranquility of the year

百度新闻Feb 2026

一路走来,到了春节!上海静安祝您龙马精神、马到成功..

yī lù zǒu lái , dào le chūn jié ! shǎng hǎi jìng ān zhù nín lóng mǎ jīng shén mǎ dào chéng gōng . .

All the way to Chinese New Year! Shanghai Jing An wishes you the best of luck and success...

百度新闻Feb 2026

春节假期拍了拍你,出门揣一份“安心”更踏实

chūn jié jiǎ qī pāi le pāi nǐ , chū mén chuāi yī fèn ān xīn gēng tà shí

Spring Festival vacation pat you, go out and put a "peace of mind" more solid

百度新闻Feb 2026

注意!静安“马上有礼”第五轮即将开抢,春日焕新消费...

zhù yì ! jìng ān mǎ shǎng yǒu lǐ dì wǔ lún jí jiāng kāi qiāng , chūn rì huàn xīn xiāo fèi . . .

Attention! Jing'an's "Immediate Rewards" Fifth Round is About to Launch—Spring Refresh Consumption...

百度新闻Feb 2026

美政府移民政策支持率创新低 国土安全部发言人离职

měi zhèng fǔ yí mín zhèng cè zhī chí lǜ chuàng xīn dī guó tǔ ān quán bù fā yán rén chī zhí

U.S. Immigration Policy Approval Hits Record Low as Homeland Security Spokesperson Steps Down

Tatoeba

你为什么不随遇而安呢?

Nǐ wèi shénme bù suíyù'ér'ān ne?

Why can't you take things just as they are?

Tatoeba

这辆车去静安寺吗?

Zhè liàng chē qù jìng ān sì ma?

Does this car go to Jingan temple?

Tatoeba

你知道为什么他们安静下来了呢?

Nǐ zhīdào wèishénme tāmen ānjìng xiàlai le ne?

Do you know why they stopped talking?

Tatoeba

你明天有什么安排啦?

Nǐ míngtiān yǒu shénme ānpái lā?

What do you have planned tomorrow?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced ān

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 安 (ān) mean in Chinese?
安 (ān) primarily means "safe, peace." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #232 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 安 and 战?
安 (ān) and 战 (zhàn) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 安 (peace) vs 战 (war).
How many strokes does 安 have?
安 is written with 6 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 安?
The radical associated with 安 is 宀 (roof). This radical appears in many characters related to roof.
What are the components of 安?
安 is composed of: 宀 (structural), 女 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱宀女 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 安?
Common words with 安 include: 安全 (ān quán, "safe"); 晚安 (wǎn ān, "Good night!"); 安排 (ān pái, "to arrange"); 安静 (ān jìng, "quiet"); 保安 (bǎo ān, "to ensure public security"). There are over 127 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 安 (ān)?
Several characters share the pronunciation ān: 案 ((legal) case), 按 (to press, according to), 暗 (dark), 岸 (bank). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 安 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 安 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 安 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.