胆 (dǎn): gallbladder, courage

胆 (dǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “gallbladder, courage.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺼ (semantic) and 旦 (phonetic). It ranks #1344 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 胆 flesh. Its radical form 月 (moon) appears in many related characters such as 月 (yuè, moon, month), 有 (yǒu, to have), 朋 (péng, friend).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. gallbladder, courage

Etymology & Origin

胆

pictophoneticflesh

Decomposition: ⿰⺼旦 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 胆

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
大胆adjectivedà dǎnbrazen5
胆小adjectivedǎn xiǎocowardice5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
胆小鬼noundǎn xiǎo guǐcoward
胆量noundǎn liàngcourage
胆子noundǎn zicourage
胆敢verbdǎn gǎnto dare (negative connotation)
胆怯adjectivedǎn qiètimidity
胆固醇noundǎn gù chúncholesterol
提心吊胆phrasetí xīn diào dǎn(idiom) nervous
胆识noundǎn shícourage and insight
海胆nounhǎi dǎn(zoology) sea urchin
胆碱noundǎn jiǎncholine (amine related to vitamin B complex)
胆战心惊phrasedǎn zhàn xīn jīngto tremble with fear (idiom)
胆大adjectivedǎn dàdaring
明目张胆phrasemíng mù zhāng dǎnopenly and without fear
胆囊noundǎn nánggallbladder
壮胆verbzhuàng dǎnto get one’s courage up
84
Total compounds
44
As first character
37
As last character
19
As middle character

胆 appears in 84 compound words: 44 as the first character, 37 as the last, and 19 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 胆 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

醇chún
0.570941 co-occurrences
怯qiè
0.566292 co-occurrences
肝gān
0.555760 co-occurrences
汁zhī
0.548582 co-occurrences
囊náng
0.499458 co-occurrences
固gù
0.435837 co-occurrences
侠xiá
0.433148 co-occurrences
龙lóng
0.430872 co-occurrences
尝cháng
0.428188 co-occurrences
敢gǎn
0.420282 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (22)

赤胆忠心chìdǎnzhōngxīnHSK 7+

utter devotion

phrase
胆颤心惊dǎn chàn xīn jīngHSK 7+

panic-stricken

phrase
胆大包天dǎn dà bāo tiānHSK 5+

reckless; extremely daring

phrase
胆大妄为dǎn dà wàng wéiHSK 7+

daring; presumptuous; daredevil

phrase
胆惊心颤dǎn jīng xīn chànHSK 7+

see 心驚膽戰|心惊胆战

phrase
胆小如鼠dǎnxiǎorúshǔHSK 5+

to be timid as a mouse; to be very timid

phrase
胆战心惊dǎnzhànxīnjīngHSK 5+

to tremble with fear; to be terror-stricken

phrase
肝胆相照gāndǎnxiāngzhàoHSK 6+

to treat one another with absolute sincerity; to show total devotion

phrase
狗胆包天gǒu dǎn bāo tiānHSK 5+

extremely daring (idiom); foolhardy

phrase
龙肝凤胆lóng gān fèng dǎnHSK 7+

rare food; ambrosia (delicacy)

phrase
明目张胆míngmùzhāngdǎnHSK 5+

brazenly; flagrantly

phrase
披肝沥胆pīgānlìdǎn

to pour one's heart out; to talk without reserve; to have a heart-to-heart talk

phrase

Showing 12 of 22 idioms containing 胆.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

做这件事需要很大的胆量,不是每个人都有勇气尝试。

Zuò zhè jiàn shì xūyào hěn dà de dǎnliàng, bú shì měi gè rén dōu yǒu yǒngqì chángshì.

Doing this requires great courage; not everyone has the bravery to try.

三立新聞網Mar 2026

绫濑遥内衣广告裸背!粉丝惊:尺度大胆

绫 濑 yáo nèi yī guǎng gào luǒ bèi ! fěn sī jīng : chǐ dù dà dǎn

Haruka Ayase Shows Bare Back in Lingerie Ad! Fans Shocked: "That's Pretty Risqué!"

東方日報Feb 2026

【有胆齐莱】扶摇势劲全日稳胆

yǒu dǎn qí 莱 fú yáo shì jìn quán rì wěn dǎn

【Courageous Qi Lai】Fuyao momentum is stable all day long

Hk01.comFeb 2026

黄婉恩重回单身后衣着更大胆 穿吊带薄纱裙海边大晒凹凸有致身材

huáng wǎn ēn chóng huí dān shēn hòu yī zhe gēng dà dǎn chuān diào dài báo shā qún hǎi biān dà shài āo tū yǒu zhì shēn cái

After Huang Wanen returned to being single, she dressed more boldly, wearing a suspender tulle skirt, and a sunny figure on the beach

NewsFeb 2026

...aptop Sleeve 16 笔记本内胆包:可选 15W 双磁吸无线充电版,89...

. . . bǐ jì běn nèi dǎn bāo kě xuǎn shuāng cí xī wú xiàn chōng diàn bǎn , . . .

... aptop Sleeve 16 Laptop Sleeve Bag: Optional 15W Dual Magnetic Wireless Charging Version, 89...

NewsFeb 2026

【有胆齐莱】凯旋升形势绝佳

yǒu dǎn qí 莱 kǎi xuán shēng xíng shì jué jiā

The situation of the triumphant ascent is excellent

Tatoeba

你们也太大胆了吧!

Nǐmen yě tài dàdǎn le ba!

You were also too brave!

Tatoeba

“坦白说,我有恐高症。”“你是个胆小鬼!”

"Tǎnbái shuō, wǒ yǒu kǒnggāozhèng." "Nǐ shì ge dǎnxiǎoguǐ!"

"To tell you the truth, I am scared of heights." "You are a coward!"

Tatoeba

我对你的大胆感到很惊讶。

Wǒ duì nǐ de dàdǎn gǎndào hěn jīngyà.

I am amazed at your audacity.

Tatoeba

约翰看起来很勇敢,但其实是个胆小鬼。

Yuēhàn kànqǐlai hěn yǒnggǎn, dàn qíshí shì gè dǎnxiǎoguǐ.

John is brave in appearance, but is in reality a coward.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the ⺼ (flesh) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced dǎn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 胆 (dǎn) mean in Chinese?
胆 (dǎn) primarily means "gallbladder, courage." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1344 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 胆 and 量?
胆 (dǎn) and 量 (liàng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 月 vs 里 (same 旦 component).
How many strokes does 胆 have?
胆 is written with 9 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 胆?
The radical associated with 胆 is 月 (moon). This radical appears in many characters related to moon.
What are the components of 胆?
胆 is composed of: ⺼ (semantic), 旦 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰⺼旦 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 胆?
Common words with 胆 include: 胆小鬼 (dǎn xiǎo guǐ, "coward"); 大胆 (dà dǎn, "brazen"); 胆量 (dǎn liàng, "courage"); 胆子 (dǎn zi, "courage"); 胆小 (dǎn xiǎo, "cowardice"). There are over 84 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 胆 (dǎn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dǎn: 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 胆 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 胆 and the traditional form is 膽.

Practice writing 胆 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.