耽 (dān): to delay

耽 (dān) is a Chinese character meaning “to delay.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 耳 (semantic) and 冘 (phonetic). It ranks #2531 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 耽 ear. Its radical form 耳 (ear) appears in many related characters such as 闻 (wén, to hear, to smell), 职 (zhí, job, duty), 联 (lián, connect, unite).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to delay

Etymology & Origin

耽

pictophoneticear

Decomposition: ⿰耳冘 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 耽

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
耽误verbdān wuto delay6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
耽搁verbdān geto delay
耽心verbdān xīnvariant of 擔心|担心
耽美noundān měi(slang) boys' love, aka BL (genre of homoerotic online literature)
耽忧verbdān yōuvariant of 擔憂|担忧
耽溺verbdān nìto indulge in
6
Total compounds
100
As first character
0
As last character
0
As middle character

耽 appears in 6 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 耽 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

搁gē
0.600219 co-occurrences
误wù
0.560543 co-occurrences
溺nì
0.48998 co-occurrences
嗜shì
0.43242 co-occurrences
怠dài
0.37310 co-occurrences
袁yuán
0.34944 co-occurrences
贾gǔ
0.34128 co-occurrences
逸yì
0.34032 co-occurrences
宠chǒng
0.33812 co-occurrences
怕pà
0.33834 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

不要耽误时间,我们还有很多工作要做。

Búyào dānwù shíjiān, wǒmen hái yǒu hěn duō gōngzuò yào zuò.

Don't waste time; we still have a lot of work to do.

中国新闻网·文化Jul 2026

站内的展览将动线设置成直线,让旅客和行人在参观时不耽误赶路。

zhàn nèi de zhǎn lǎn jiāng dòng xiàn shè zhì chéng zhí xiàn , ràng lǚ kè hé háng rén zài cān guàn shí bù dān wù gǎn lù .

The exhibition layout within the venue is designed as a straight path, allowing visitors and pedestrians to view the exhibits without delaying their journey.

IT之家Jul 2026

通过简单的自查,旅客就能提前规避因充电宝不合规而耽误行程的问题。

tōng guò jiǎn dān de zì chá , lǚ kè jiù néng tí qián guī bì yīn chōng diàn bǎo bù gě guī ér dān wù háng chéng de wèn tí .

By conducting a simple self-check, travelers can avoid delays caused by non-compliant power banks well in advance.

爱范儿Jul 2026

工厂总经理说,在代工模式里,从打样到工程修改到可靠性验证,往往耽误很长时间。

gōng hǎn zǒng jīng lǐ shuō , zài dài gōng mó shì lǐ , cóng dǎ yàng dào gōng chéng xiū gǎi dào kě kào xìng yàn zhèng , wǎng wǎng dān wù hěn cháng shí jiān .

The factory general manager said that in the contract manufacturing model, the process—from prototyping to engineering revisions to reliability testing—often takes a long time.

中国新闻网·生活Jun 2026

一旦误食,喝醋、喝浓茶等偏方不仅没用,还可能耽误病情。

yī dàn wù shí , hē cù , hē nóng chá děng piān fāng bù jǐn méi yòng , hái kě néng dān wù bìng qíng .

In the event of accidental ingestion, folk remedies such as drinking vinegar or strong tea are not only ineffective but may also delay proper treatment.

NewsFeb 2026

被工程师耽误的排球选手 他组球队引领体保生进科技业

bèi gōng chéng shī dān wù de pái qiú xuǎn shǒu tā zǔ qiú duì yǐn lǐng tǐ bǎo shēng jìn kē jì yè

Volleyball players delayed by engineers He formed a team to lead health care students into the science and technology industry

Tatoeba

我被交通堵塞耽搁了。

Wǒ bèi jiāotōngdǔsè dānge le.

I was delayed by a traffic jam.

Tatoeba

可以耽误你一点时间吗?

Kěyǐ dānwu nǐ yīdiǎn shíjiān ma?

Do you have a minute?

Tatoeba

事故耽误了我们半小时。

Shìgù dānwu le wǒmen bànxiǎoshí.

An accident delayed us for half an hour.

Tatoeba

火车因大雪被耽搁了。

Huǒchē yīn dàxuě bèi dānge le.

The train was delayed because of heavy snowfall.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 耳 (ear) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced dān

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 耽 (dān) mean in Chinese?
耽 (dān) primarily means "to delay." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2531 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 耽 and 枕?
耽 (dān) and 枕 (zhěn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 耳 vs 木 (same 冘 component).
How many strokes does 耽 have?
耽 is written with 10 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 耽?
The radical associated with 耽 is 耳 (ear). This radical appears in many characters related to ear.
What are the components of 耽?
耽 is composed of: 耳 (semantic), 冘 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰耳冘 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 耽?
Common words with 耽 include: 耽误 (dān wu, "to delay"); 耽搁 (dān ge, "to delay"); 耽心 (dān xīn, "variant of 擔心|担心"); 耽美 (dān měi, "(slang) boys' love, aka BL (genre of homoerotic online literature)"); 耽忧 (dān yōu, "variant of 擔憂|担忧"). There are over 6 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 耽 (dān)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dān: 但 (but), 担 (to carry, to undertake), 弹 (crossball), 蛋 (egg), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 耽 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 耽 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 耽 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.