掺 (chān): to mix, to blend, to dilute, to adulterate, to grasp

掺 (chān) is a Chinese character meaning “to mix.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 参 (phonetic). It ranks #2873 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 掺 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to mix
  2. to blend
  3. to dilute
  4. to adulterate
  5. to grasp

Etymology & Origin

掺

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌参 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
掺假verbchān jiǎto mix in fake material
掺水verbchān shuǐto dilute
掺沙子verbchān shā zito mix in some sand (e.g. when making concrete)
掺和chān huoto mix
4
Total compounds
100
As first character
0
As last character
0
As middle character

掺 appears in 4 compound words: 100 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 0 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 掺 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

杂zá
0.5851,259 co-occurrences
坷kē
0.44810 co-occurrences
浓nóng
0.43250 co-occurrences
纤xiān
0.42434 co-occurrences
剂jì
0.40966 co-occurrences
铝lǚ
0.38614 co-occurrences
氧yǎng
0.36652 co-occurrences
浆jiāng
0.36510 co-occurrences
黏nián
0.34612 co-occurrences
入rù
0.345398 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他掺了一个电话,约朋友晚上一起吃饭。

tā chān le yī gě diàn huà , yāo péng yǒu wǎn shǎng yī qǐ chī fàn .

He made a phone call to arrange dinner with a friend that evening.

奇客SolidotAug 2026

部分刚玉颗粒还含有铬——在地球上掺有铬的刚玉被称为红宝石。

bù fēn gāng yù kē lì hái hán yǒu 铬 — — zài dì qiú shàng chān yǒu 铬 de gāng yù bèi chèn wéi hóng bǎo shí .

Some corundum grains also contain chromium—on Earth, chromium-bearing corundum is known as ruby.

少数派Aug 2026

本身带有花香,整体清爽,适合清爽的喝法不太适合掺杂太多辅料。

běn shēn dài yǒu huā xiāng , zhěng tǐ qīng shuǎng , shì gě qīng shuǎng de hē fǎ bù tài shì gě chān zá tài duō fǔ liào .

It has a natural floral aroma and a refreshing overall flavor, making it best enjoyed on its own—it doesn’t pair well with too many additional ingredients.

少数派Jun 2026

对旅者来说,俄罗斯的夜火车掺杂着一份仪式感:在车厢里睡一晚,醒来后城市已经换了气质。

duì lǚ zhě lái shuō , é luó sī de yè huǒ chē chān zá zhe yī fèn yí shì gǎn : zài chē xiāng lǐ shuì yī wǎn , xǐng lái hòu chéng shì yǐ jīng huàn le qì zhì .

For travelers, Russia’s overnight trains have a certain sense of ritual: after sleeping a night in the train car, you wake up to find the city has taken on a whole new atmosphere.

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

配上粉丝、千张、豆饼“三掺”,再搭配现烤的芝麻烧饼,一口汤一口饼,暖意贯通全身。

pèi shàng fěn sī , qiān zhāng , dòu bǐng sān chān , zài dā pèi xiàn kǎo de zhī má shāo bǐng , yī kǒu tāng yī kǒu bǐng , nuǎn yì guàn tōng quán shēn .

Served with a “triple mix” of glass noodles, bean curd sheets, and soybean cakes, and paired with freshly baked sesame flatbreads—a sip of soup followed by a bite of flatbread—the warmth spreads throughout your entire body.

少数派May 2026

你是一个负责责任的助手,你不会在答案中掺杂你的思考过程,你会想好再回答。

nǐ shì yī gè fù zé zé rèn de zhù shǒu , nǐ bù huì zài dā àn zhōng chān zá nǐ de sī kǎo guò chéng , nǐ huì xiǎng hǎo zài huí dā .

You are a responsible assistant; you don't include your thought process in your answers, and you think things through before responding.

Tatoeba

所有的社交,自然而然地,都会掺入一些虚伪的成分,我想这是有其必要的。

Suǒyǒu de shèjiāo, zìrán'érrán de, dōu huì chān rù yīxiē xūwěi de chéngfèn, wǒ xiǎng zhè shì yǒu qí bìyào de.

All social interactions, naturally, will involve some degree of insincerity, which I believe is necessary.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 扌 (hand) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced chān

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 掺 (chān) mean in Chinese?
掺 (chān) primarily means "to mix." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2873 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 掺 and 惨?
掺 (chān) and 惨 (cǎn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 扌 vs 忄 (same 参 component).
How many strokes does 掺 have?
掺 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 掺?
The radical associated with 掺 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 掺?
掺 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 参 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌参 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 掺?
Common words with 掺 include: 掺假 (chān jiǎ, "to mix in fake material"); 掺水 (chān shuǐ, "to dilute"); 掺沙子 (chān shā zi, "to mix in some sand (e.g. when making concrete)"); 掺和 (chān huo, "to mix"). There are over 4 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 掺 (chān)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chān: 产 (to give birth), 缠 (to wind around), 颤 (to tremble), 禅 (dhyana (Sanskrit)), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 掺 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 掺 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 掺 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.