蛋 (dàn): egg

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

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

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. egg

Etymology & Origin

蛋

pictophoneticinsect

Decomposition: ⿱疋虫 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 蛋

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
蛋糕noundàn gāocake3
鸡蛋nounjī dàn(chicken) egg1
蛋白质noundàn bái zhìprotein6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
混蛋nounhún dànscoundrel
笨蛋nounbèn dàn(mild insult) fool
完蛋verbwán dàn(coll.) to be done for
坏蛋nounhuài dànbad egg
滚蛋verbgǔn dàn(slang) get out of here!
蛋蛋adverbdàn dàn(coll.) balls (testicles)
脸蛋nounliǎn dàncheek
蛋白noundàn báiegg white
捣蛋verbdǎo dànto cause trouble
蛋卷noundàn juǎnegg roll
浑蛋hún dànvariant of 混蛋
蛋黄noundàn huángegg yolk
穷光蛋nounqióng guāng dànpoor wretch
下蛋verbxià dànto lay eggs
蛋壳noundàn kéeggshell
101
Total compounds
35
As first character
53
As last character
12
As middle character

蛋 appears in 101 compound words: 35 as the first character, 53 as the last, and 12 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 蛋 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

糕gāo
0.71110,019 co-occurrences
笨bèn
0.5812,867 co-occurrences
白bái
0.58157,704 co-occurrences
质zhì
0.56712,512 co-occurrences
孵fū
0.5541,495 co-occurrences
鸡jī
0.5522,532 co-occurrences
巨jù
0.5229,684 co-occurrences
煎jiān
0.504711 co-occurrences
钙gài
0.479496 co-occurrences
屎shǐ
0.474360 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

调皮捣蛋tiáo pí dǎo dànHSK 7+

naughty; mischievous; to act up

phrase
海绵蛋糕hǎimián dàngāoHSK 7+

spongecake

noun
起司蛋糕qǐsī dàngāoHSK 3+

cheesecake

noun
胃蛋白酶wèidànbáiméi

pepsin

noun
纤维蛋白xiān wéi dàn báiHSK 7+

fibrous protein

phrase
血红蛋白xuè hóng dàn báiHSK 4+

hemoglobin

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

早餐吃一个鸡蛋,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、蛋白棒可以吗

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、鸡蛋、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

汉神巨蛋稳居高雄百货王 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

大巨蛋影厅变喜宴场 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:用人工智能为膜蛋白造“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

想再要一点蛋糕吗?

Xiǎng zài yào yīdiǎn dàngāo ma?

Would you care for some more cake?

Tatoeba

我可以再吃一块蛋糕吗?

Wǒ kěyǐ zài chī yīkuài dàngāo ma?

May I have another piece of cake?

Tatoeba

东京巨蛋的电话号码是多少?

Dōngjīng jùdàn de diànhuà hàomǎ shì duōshao?

What's the number for the Tokyo Dome?

Tatoeba

你想要来些炒蛋吗?

Nǐ xiǎngyào lái xiē chǎodàn ma?

Would you like some scrambled egg?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 虫 (insect) component

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 101 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 蛋 (dàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dàn: 诞 (birth), 但 (but), 担 (to carry, to undertake), 弹 (crossball), 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 蛋 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.