庵 (ān): hut, small temple

庵 (ān) is a Chinese character meaning “hut.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 广 (structural) and 奄 (structural). It ranks #4668 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 庵 a building 广 where people remain 奄; 奄 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 广 (shelter) appears in many related characters such as 店 (diàn, shop), 度 (dù, degree, to measure), 座 (zuò, seat).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. hut
  2. small temple

Etymology & Origin

庵

ideographicA building 广 where people remain 奄; 奄 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿸广奄 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
西来庵xī lái ānXilai Temple (Tainan, Taiwan)
田家庵区tián jiā ān qūTianjia'an, a district of Huainan City 淮南市, Anhui
京都念慈庵jīng dū niàn cí ānKing-to Nin Jiom, or just Nin Jiom, manufacturer of 枇杷膏 cough medicine
庵摩落迦果ān mó luò jiā guǒsee 餘甘子|余甘子
田家庵proper-nountián jiā ānsee 田家庵區|田家庵区
施耐庵shī nài ānShi Nai'an (1296-1371), author of Water Margin or Outlaws of the Marsh 水滸傳|水浒传
庵摩勒nounān mó lèsee 餘甘子|余甘子
庵堂nounān tángBuddhist nunnery
8
Total compounds
38
As first character
50
As last character
13
As middle character

庵 appears in 8 compound words: 38 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 13 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

庵字在日常生活中使用频率较低。

ān zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .

The character "庵" is not used very often in everyday life.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

到昆明后,一家人借住在尼姑庵里,只有一间半房子,屋里黑乎乎的,满地是泥。

dào kūn míng hòu , yī jiā rén jiè zhù zài ní gū ān lǐ , zhī yǒu yī jiān bàn fáng zǐ , wū lǐ hēi hū hū de , mǎn dì shì ní .

After arriving in Kunming, the family stayed at a nunnery, where they had only one and a half rooms; the rooms were pitch-black, and the floor was covered in mud.

中国新闻网·文化May 2026

宋代诗人陆游所着《老学庵笔记》中已经有关于“仡伶”集体做客唱歌的记载。

sòng dài shī rén lù yóu suǒ zhe lǎo xué ān bǐ jì zhōng yǐ jīng yǒu guān yú 仡 伶 jí tǐ zuò kè chàng gē de jì zài .

The *Notes from the Old Study Hermitage*, written by the Song Dynasty poet Lu You, already contains records of groups of “giling” visiting people’s homes to sing.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 庵 (ān) mean in Chinese?
庵 (ān) primarily means "hut." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #4668 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 庵 and 大?
庵 (ān) and 大 (dà) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 庵 (small) vs 大 (big).
How many strokes does 庵 have?
庵 is written with 11 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 庵?
The radical associated with 庵 is 广 (shelter). This radical appears in many characters related to shelter.
What are the components of 庵?
庵 is composed of: 广 (structural), 奄 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸广奄 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 庵?
Common words with 庵 include: 西来庵 (xī lái ān, "Xilai Temple (Tainan, Taiwan)"); 田家庵区 (tián jiā ān qū, "Tianjia'an, a district of Huainan City 淮南市, Anhui"); 京都念慈庵 (jīng dū niàn cí ān, "King-to Nin Jiom, or just Nin Jiom, manufacturer of 枇杷膏 cough medicine"); 庵摩落迦果 (ān mó luò jiā guǒ, "see 餘甘子|余甘子"); 田家庵 (tián jiā ān, "see 田家庵區|田家庵区"). There are over 8 compound words containing this character.
Is 庵 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 庵 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 庵 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.