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).
Definitions
- to delay
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
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
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 耽搁 | dān ge | to tarry |
| 替古人耽忧 | tì gǔ rén dān yōu | to fret over the worries of long-departed people (idiom) |
| 耽心 | dān xīn | variant of 擔心|担心[dan1 xin1] |
| 耽美 | dān měi | (slang) boys' love, aka BL (genre of homoerotic online literature) |
| 耽忧 | dān yōu | variant of 擔憂|担忧[dan1 you1] |
| 耽溺 | dān nì | to indulge in |
耽 appears in 7 compound words: 86 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 14 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.
Example Sentences
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.
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
我被交通堵塞耽搁了。
Wǒ bèi jiāotōngdǔsè dānge le.
I was delayed by a traffic jam.
可以耽误你一点时间吗?
Kěyǐ dānwu nǐ yīdiǎn shíjiān ma?
Do you have a minute?
事故耽误了我们半小时。
Shìgù dānwu le wǒmen bànxiǎoshí.
An accident delayed us for half an hour.
火车因大雪被耽搁了。
Huǒchē yīn dàxuě bèi dānge le.
The train was delayed because of heavy snowfall.
我发现你玩绝对不耽误学习。我就不行。
Wǒ fāxiàn nǐ wán juéduì bù dānwu xuéxí. wǒ jiù bù xíng.
I've noticed that having fun doesn't interfere at all with your studies. I just can't.
耽误你的假期了。
Dānwu nǐ de jiàqī le.
It delayed your holiday.
友情提示：请留意您需要换乘线路的首末班时间，以免耽误您的出行。
Yǒuqíng tíshì: qǐng liúyì nín xūyào huànchéng xiànlù de shǒu mò bān shíjiān, yǐmiǎn dānwu nín de chūxíng.
Friendly Reminder: Please keep in mind the closing time of the line you need to switch to, so as to avoid delays in your trip.
别紧张，如此一来他就不会认为你带了违禁品而开箱检查耽搁时间。
Bié jǐnzhāng, rúcǐ yīlái tā jiù bù huì rènwéi nǐ dài le wéijìn pǐn ér kāixiāng jiǎnchá dānge shíjiān.
Don't be nervous. Because of this he won't think you're carrying any contraband, and won't open your trunk to check, and hold you up.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 耽 (dān) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 耽 and 枕?
How many strokes does 耽 have?
What is the radical of 耽?
What are the components of 耽?
What are common words containing 耽?
What characters sound the same as 耽 (dān)?
Is 耽 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 耽 with real-time feedback
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