阐 (chǎn): to explain

阐 (chǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “to explain.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 门 (semantic) and 单 (phonetic). It ranks #2147 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 阐 gate. Its radical form 门 (gate) appears in many related characters such as 门 (mén, door, gate), 间 (jiān, room, between), 闪 (shǎn, to flash, to dodge).

Native pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 门 gate11 strokesFrequency #2147门 semantic 单 phonetic

Definitions

to explain

Etymology & Origin

阐

pictophoneticgate

Decomposition: ⿵门单 (layout: surround-from-top)

Components:门semantic 单phonetic

Stroke Order

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
阐述	chǎn shù	to expound (a position)
阐明	chǎn míng	to elucidate
阐释	chǎn shì	to explain
阐发	chǎn fā	to elucidate
阐示	chǎn shì	to demonstrate
推阐	tuī chǎn	to elucidate
阐扬	chǎn yáng	to expound

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

阐 appears in 7 compound words: 86 as the first character, 14 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 阐 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

述shù

0.61916,270 co-occurrences

释shì

0.5645,694 co-occurrences

详xiáng

0.5101,536 co-occurrences

细xì

0.4471,422 co-occurrences

明míng

0.4397,290 co-occurrences

了le

0.3939,630 co-occurrences

晰xī

0.382150 co-occurrences

扬yáng

0.355282 co-occurrences

步bù

0.3471,086 co-occurrences

讲jiǎng

0.344330 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请阐明你的观点，让大家都能理解。

Qǐng chǎnmíng nǐ de guāndiǎn, ràng dàjiā dōu néng lǐjiě.

Please explain your views so everyone can understand.

光明网_新闻视野、文化视角、思想深度、理论高度Mar 2026

“阐明历史真相,防止日本军国主义历史重演”—...

chǎn míng lì shǐ zhēn xiāng , fáng zhǐ rì běn jūn guó zhǔ yì lì shǐ chóng yǎn — . . .

“Clarify the historical truth and prevent the recurrence of Japanese militarism”—...

Investing 香港Mar 2026

哥伦布麦金农于摩根大通会议上阐述策略性成长路径

gē lún bù mài jīn nóng yú mó gēn dà tōng huì yì shàng chǎn shù cè lüè xìng chéng cháng lù jìng

Columbus McInnon Outlines Strategic Growth Path at JPMorgan Conference

Investing 香港Mar 2026

Resideo于摩根大通会议上阐述战略分拆见解

R e s i d e o yú mó gēn dà tōng huì yì shàng chǎn shù zhàn lüè fēn chāi jiàn jiě

Resideo presents strategic spin-off insights at JPMorgan Chase & Co. conference

NewsFeb 2026

Green Plains于美国银行会议上阐述生物燃料战略转型

yú měi guó yín háng huì yì shàng chǎn shù shēng wù rán liào zhàn lüè zhuǎn xíng

Green Plains Presents Biofuel Strategic Transformation at Bank of America Conference

Tatoeba

他简单地阐述了他的理由。

Tā jiǎndān de chǎnshù le tā de lǐyóu.

He gave his reasons in brief.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 阐 (chǎn) mean in Chinese?

阐 (chǎn) primarily means "to explain." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2147 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 阐 and 弹?

阐 (chǎn) and 弹 (dàn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 门 vs 弓 (same 单 component).

How many strokes does 阐 have?

阐 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 阐?

The radical associated with 阐 is 门 (gate). This radical appears in many characters related to gate.

What are the components of 阐?

阐 is composed of: 门 (semantic), 单 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿵门单 with a surround-from-top layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 阐?

Common words with 阐 include: 阐述 (chǎn shù, "to expound (a position)"); 阐明 (chǎn míng, "to elucidate"); 阐释 (chǎn shì, "to explain"); 阐发 (chǎn fā, "to elucidate"); 阐示 (chǎn shì, "to demonstrate"). There are over 7 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 阐 (chǎn)?

Several characters share the pronunciation chǎn: 掺 (to mix), 搀 (to take by the arm and assist), 禅 (dhyana (Sanskrit)), 馋 (greedy), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 阐 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

No. The simplified form is 阐 and the traditional form is 闡.

Practice writing 阐 with real-time feedback

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