禅 (chán): dhyana (Sanskrit), Zen, meditation (Buddhism)

禅 (chán) is a Chinese character meaning “dhyana (sanskrit).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 礻 (structural) and 单 (structural). It ranks #2146 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 禅 to pray 礻 alone 单; 单 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 礻 (spirit) appears in many related characters such as 票 (piào, ticket), 视 (shì, (literary, or bound form) to look at), 示 (shì, to show).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 礻 spirit12 strokesFrequency #2146礻 structural单 structural

Definitions

  1. dhyana (Sanskrit)
  2. Zen
  3. meditation (Buddhism)

Etymology & Origin

禅

ideographicTo pray 礻 alone 单; 单 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰礻单 (layout: left-right)

Components:礻structural单structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
口头禅kǒu tóu chánZen saying repeated as cant
禅宗chán zōngZen Buddhism
禅师chán shīhonorific title for a Buddhist monk
坐禅zuò chánto sit in meditation
禅房chán fánga room in a Buddhist monastery
禅修chán xiūto practice Zen (esp. meditation)
班禅额尔德尼bān chán é ěr dé níPanchen Erdeni or Panchen Lama
禅门五宗chán mén wǔ zōngthe five schools of Chan Buddhism
禅城区chán chéng qūChancheng, a district of Foshan City 佛山市[Fo2 shan1 Shi4], Guangdong
禅机chán jīBuddhist allegorical word or gesture
打禅dǎ chánto meditate (of Buddhist)
禅位shàn wèito abdicate (as king)
受禅shòu shànto accept abdication
禅让shàn ràngto abdicate
禅院chán yuànBuddhist hall
27
Total compounds
52
As first character
37
As last character
11
As middle character

禅 appears in 27 compound words: 52 as the first character, 37 as the last, and 11 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 禅 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

寺sì
0.5288,364 co-occurrences
师shī
0.4857,404 co-occurrences
辕yuán
0.478234 co-occurrences
班bān
0.4727,644 co-occurrences
嘛ma
0.448474 co-occurrences
僧sēng
0.4271,008 co-occurrences
净jìng
0.420522 co-occurrences
宗zōng
0.4164,314 co-occurrences
让ràng
0.4121,686 co-occurrences
额é
0.4081,236 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

班禅喇嘛bānchán lǎmaHSK 7+

Panchen Lama

noun
禅门五宗chán mén wǔ zōngHSK 7+

the five schools of Chan Buddhism

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

禅字虽然难写，但意思很有趣。

chán zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .

The character for "Zen" may be difficult to write, but its meaning is quite intriguing.

SmzdmApr 2026

想学禅修,哪里能学到真东西?

xiǎng xué chán xiū , nǎ lǐ néng xué dào zhēn dōng xī ?

Character Family

礻 Radical Family — Characters sharing the spirit radical

福fú禁jīn礼lǐ票piào社shè神shén示shì视shì祝zhù祖zǔ

Related Characters

票piào视shì示shì礼lǐ社shè祝zhù神shén福fú禁jīn祖zǔ

Homophones — Characters pronounced chán

掺chān搀chān馋chán缠chán产chǎn铲chǎn阐chǎn颤chàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 禅 (chán) mean in Chinese?
禅 (chán) primarily means "dhyana (sanskrit)." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2146 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 禅 have?
禅 is written with 12 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 禅?
The radical associated with 禅 is 礻 (spirit). This radical appears in many characters related to spirit.
What are the components of 禅?
禅 is composed of: 礻 (structural), 单 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰礻单 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 禅?
Common words with 禅 include: 口头禅 (kǒu tóu chán, "Zen saying repeated as cant"); 禅宗 (chán zōng, "Zen Buddhism"); 禅师 (chán shī, "honorific title for a Buddhist monk"); 坐禅 (zuò chán, "to sit in meditation"); 禅房 (chán fáng, "a room in a Buddhist monastery"). There are over 27 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 禅 (chán)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chán: 掺 (to mix), 搀 (to take by the arm and assist), 馋 (greedy), 缠 (to wind around), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 禅 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 禅 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 禅 with real-time feedback

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

Download on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play

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.