(dàn): egg

(dàn) is a Chinese character meaning “egg.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (semantic). It ranks #1379 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, insect. Its radical form (insect) appears in many related characters such as (suī, although), (chóng, insect), (shé, snake).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. egg

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticinsect

Decomposition: ⿱疋虫 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
noundàn gāocake3
nounjī dàn(chicken) egg1
noundàn bái zhìprotein6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
hún dànscoundrel
bèn dàn(mild insult) fool
wán dàn(coll.) to be done for
huài dànbad egg
gǔn dànget out of here!
dàn dàn(coll.) balls (testicles)
liǎn dàncheek
dàn báiegg white
dǎo dànto cause trouble
dàn juǎnegg roll
hún dànvariant of 混蛋[hun2 dan4]
dàn huángegg yolk
qióng guāng dànpoor wretch
xià dànto lay eggs
dàn kéeggshell
100
Total compounds
33
As first character
54
As last character
13
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 33 as the first character, 54 as the last, and 13 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

gāo
0.71329,815 co-occurrences
bái
0.694172,938 co-occurrences
bèn
0.6128,570 co-occurrences
zhì
0.57537,536 co-occurrences
0.5574,452 co-occurrences
0.55328,919 co-occurrences
0.5507,441 co-occurrences
jiān
0.5002,093 co-occurrences
gài
0.4861,488 co-occurrences
shǐ
0.4811,080 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

tiáo pí dǎo dànHSK 7+

naughty; mischievous; to act up

phrase
hǎimián dàngāoHSK 7+

spongecake

noun
qǐsī dàngāoHSK 3+

cheesecake

noun
xiān wéi dàn báiHSK 7+

fibrous protein

phrase
wèidànbáiméiHSK 5+

pepsin

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

早餐吃一个鸡,营养丰富又健康。

Zǎocān chī yí gè jīdàn, yíngyǎng fēngfù yòu jiànkāng.

Eating an egg for breakfast is nutritious and healthy.

99 健康网Feb 2026

低糖零食有哪些?魔芋爽、原味海苔、白棒可以吗

dī táng líng shí yǒu nǎ xiē ? mó 芋 shuǎng , yuán wèi hǎi 苔 , dàn bái bàng kě yǐ ma

What are the low-sugar snacks? Can konjac cool, original seaweed, and protein bars be accepted?

99 健康网Feb 2026

不升糖的食品有哪些?绿叶菜、鸡、豆腐几乎不升糖吗

bù shēng táng de shí pǐn yǒu nǎ xiē ? lǜ xié cài , jī dàn , dòu fǔ jī hū bù shēng táng ma

What are the foods that do not raise blood sugar? Green leafy vegetables, eggs, and tofu hardly raise sugar

LtnFeb 2026

汉神巨稳居高雄百货王 百货商圈概念宅成市场焦点...

hàn shén jù dàn wěn jū gāo xióng bǎi huò wáng bǎi huò shāng juān gài niàn zhái chéng shì chǎng jiāo diǎn . . .

Hanshin Dome is firmly in the king of Kaohsiung Department Stores, and the concept of department store business district has become the focus of the market...

三立新聞網Feb 2026

大巨影厅变喜宴场 280人看完电影开饭

dà jù dàn yǐng tīng biàn xǐ yàn chǎng 2 8 0 rén kàn wán diàn yǐng kāi fàn

The theater hall of the Grand Dome turned into a banquet for 280 people to start eating after watching the movie

百度新闻Feb 2026

大年初一,浙大发顶刊论文:用人工智能为膜白造“装..

dà nián chū yī , zhè dà fā dǐng kān lún wén yòng rén gōng zhì néng wéi mó dàn bái zào zhuāng . .

On the first day of the Chinese New Year, ZJU published a top paper on the use of artificial intelligence for membrane proteins...

Tatoeba

想再要一点糕吗?

Xiǎng zài yào yīdiǎn dàngāo ma?

Would you care for some more cake?

Tatoeba

我可以再吃一块糕吗?

Wǒ kěyǐ zài chī yīkuài dàngāo ma?

May I have another piece of cake?

Tatoeba

东京巨的电话号码是多少?

Dōngjīng jùdàn de diànhuà hàomǎ shì duōshao?

What's the number for the Tokyo Dome?

Tatoeba

你想要来些炒吗?

Nǐ xiǎngyào lái xiē chǎodàn ma?

Would you like some scrambled egg?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced dàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 蛋 (dàn) mean in Chinese?
蛋 (dàn) primarily means "egg." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1379 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 蛋 have?
蛋 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 蛋?
The radical associated with 蛋 is 虫 (insect). This radical appears in many characters related to insect.
What are the components of 蛋?
蛋 is composed of: 疋 (structural), 虫 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱疋虫 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 蛋?
Common words with 蛋 include: 混蛋 (hún dàn, "scoundrel"); 笨蛋 (bèn dàn, "(mild insult) fool"); 蛋糕 (dàn gāo, "cake"); 完蛋 (wán dàn, "(coll.) to be done for"); 鸡蛋 (jī dàn, "(chicken) egg"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 蛋 (dàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dàn: 诞 (birth), 丹 (red), 担 (to carry, to undertake), 耽 (to delay), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 蛋 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 蛋 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.