淡 (dàn): insipid, diluted, weak
淡 (dàn) is a Chinese character meaning “insipid.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 炎 (phonetic). It ranks #1285 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 淡 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).
Definitions
- insipid
- diluted
- weak
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 淡 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 淡
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 扯淡verb | chě dàn | to talk nonsense |
| 冷淡adjective | lěng dàn | cold |
| 平淡adjective | píng dàn | flat |
| 淡忘verb | dàn wàng | to gradually forget as time passes |
| 淡水noun | dàn shuǐ | freshwater |
| 暗淡adjective | àn dàn | dark |
| 黯淡 | àn dàn | variant of 暗淡 |
| 平淡无奇 | píng dàn wú qí | ordinary and mediocre (idiom) |
| 轻描淡写phrase | qīng miáo dàn xiě | (idiom) to treat sth as no big deal |
| 淡出verb | dàn chū | to fade out (cinema) |
| 淡淡adjective | dàn dàn | faint |
| 淡化verb | dàn huà | to water down |
| 冲淡verb | chōng dàn | to dilute |
| 惨淡adjective | cǎn dàn | dark |
| 淡季noun | dàn jì | off season |
淡 appears in 62 compound words: 58 as the first character, 32 as the last, and 10 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 淡 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (5)
Example Sentences
这道菜味道太淡了，需要加点盐。
Zhè dào cài wèidao tài dàn le, xūyào jiā diǎn yán.
This dish tastes too bland; it needs some salt.
〈财报〉惠普财测黯淡盘后重挫近7% 记忆体价格高涨是硬伤
cái bào huì pǔ cái cè 黯 dàn pán hòu chóng cuò jìn 7 jì yì tǐ jià gé gāo zhǎng shì yìng shāng
HP's financial report fell nearly 7% after hours, and the high price of memory is a hard wound
大立光去年合计每股配息80元 元月营收淡季仍亮眼
dà lì guāng qù nián gě jì měi gǔ pèi xī 8 0 yuán yuán yuè yíng shōu dàn jì réng liàng yǎn
Largan paid a total dividend of 80 yuan per share last year, and the off-season of January revenue was still eye-catching
强词有理:中国最淡定
qiáng cí yǒu lǐ : zhōng guó zuì dàn dìng
The strong words are reasonable: China is the calmest
(新春走基层)海外订单催热“淡季”生产线 广州南沙..
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng hǎi wài dìng shàn cuī rè dàn jì shēng chǎn xiàn guǎng zhōu nán shā . .
(Chinese New Year) Overseas Orders Heat Up "Off-Season" Production Lines Guangzhou Nansha...
...祛斑用什么护肤品好?美白最有效的产品榜:淡斑祛..
. . . 祛 bān yòng shén má hù fū pǐn hǎo ? měi bái zuì yǒu xiào de chǎn pǐn bǎng dàn bān 祛 . .
... What are the best skin care products to get rid of spots? Whitening the most effective products list: light spots to dispel ...
你有任何淡啤酒吗？
Nǐ yǒu rènhé dànpí jiǔ ma?
Do you have any light beer?
我肯定这是淡水鱼。
Wǒ kěndìng zhè shì dànshuǐyú.
I'm sure that this is a fresh water fish.
鲑鱼在淡水中产卵。
Guīyú zài dànshuǐ zhōng chǎnluǎn.
Salmon lay their eggs in fresh water.
台湾菜比印度菜口味淡。
Táiwān cài bǐ Yìndù cài kǒuwèi dàn.
Taiwanese food is milder than Indian food.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 淡 (dàn) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 淡 and 刚?
How many strokes does 淡 have?
What is the radical of 淡?
What are the components of 淡?
What are common words containing 淡?
What characters sound the same as 淡 (dàn)?
Is 淡 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 淡 with real-time feedback
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