惮 (dàn): dread

惮 (dàn) is a Chinese character meaning “dread.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 忄 (semantic) and 单 (phonetic). It ranks #3040 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 惮 heart. Its radical form 忄 (heart) appears in many related characters such as 恨 (hèn, to hate), 情 (qíng, feeling, emotion), 快 (kuài, fast, happy).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. dread

Etymology & Origin

惮

pictophoneticheart

Decomposition: ⿰忄单 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
肆无忌惮phrasesì wú jì dànabsolutely unrestrained
忌惮verbjì dànto be afraid of the consequences
不惮verbbù dàn(literary) unafraid
3
Total compounds
0
As first character
100
As last character
0
As middle character

惮 appears in 3 compound words: 0 as the first character, 100 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 惮 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

忌jì
0.688869 co-occurrences
肆sì
0.636288 co-occurrences
无wú
0.443368 co-occurrences
畏wèi
0.42336 co-occurrences
颇pō
0.41628 co-occurrences
敬jìng
0.39070 co-occurrences
吏lì
0.37034 co-occurrences
虏lǔ
0.36812 co-occurrences
严yán
0.34942 co-occurrences
敢gǎn
0.33318 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

肆无忌惮sìwújìdànHSK 7+

brazen; unbridled; wanton; unscrupulous

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

虽然失败了,但他惮不气馁,继续努力。

suī rán shī bài le , dàn tā dàn bù qì něi , jì xù nǔ lì .

Although he failed, he didn't lose heart and kept trying.

少数派Jul 2026

虽然后半段略显失衡,但笑点丝毫不减,横生枝节的故事谱写肆无忌惮的闹剧。

suī rán hòu bàn duàn lüè xiǎn shī héng , dàn xiào diǎn sī háo bù jiǎn , héng shēng zhī jié de gù shì pǔ xiě sì wú jì dàn de nào jù .

Although the second half is slightly unbalanced, the humor remains undiminished, and the plot—with its unexpected twists and turns—unfolds into a wild farce.

WorldjournalApr 2026

...对俄第20轮制裁含多家中企 北京批肆无忌惮

. . . duì é dì 2 0 lún zhì cái hán duō jiā zhōng qǐ běi jīng pī sì wú jì dàn

...The 20th round of sanctions against Russia targets several Chinese companies; Beijing condemns the move as brazen

中国新闻网·文化Apr 2026

对此,李浩表示,两千多年前,书刀体现的是古人“不惮改”的治学之心。

duì cǐ , lǐ hào biǎo shì , liǎng qiān duō nián qián , shū dāo tǐ xiàn de shì gǔ rén bù dàn gǎi de zhì xué zhī xīn .

In response, Li Hao noted that more than 2,000 years ago, the book knife embodied the ancient scholars’ commitment to scholarship, characterized by a willingness to revise their work.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

各国忌惮川普报复料维持现有贸易协议 彭博点名欧印...

gè guó jì dàn chuān pǔ bào fù liào wéi chí xiàn yǒu mào yì xié yì 彭 bó diǎn míng ōu yìn . . .

Countries fear Trump's retaliation and are expected to maintain existing trade agreements Bloomberg names Europe and India...

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 忄 (heart) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced dàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 惮 (dàn) mean in Chinese?
惮 (dàn) primarily means "dread." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #3040 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 惮 and 蝉?
惮 (dàn) and 蝉 (chán) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 忄 vs 虫 (same 单 component).
How many strokes does 惮 have?
惮 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 惮?
The radical associated with 惮 is 忄 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.
What are the components of 惮?
惮 is composed of: 忄 (semantic), 单 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰忄单 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 惮?
Common words with 惮 include: 肆无忌惮 (sì wú jì dàn, "absolutely unrestrained"); 忌惮 (jì dàn, "to be afraid of the consequences"); 不惮 (bù dàn, "(literary) unafraid"). There are over 3 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 惮 (dàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dàn: 弹 (crossball). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 惮 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 惮 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 惮 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.