档 (dàng): (bound form) shelves (for files), pigeonholes, (bound form) files, crosspiece (of a table etc)

档 (dàng) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) shelves (for files).” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 当 (phonetic). It ranks #1770 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 档 wood. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) shelves (for files)
  2. pigeonholes
  3. (bound form) files
  4. crosspiece (of a table etc)

Etymology & Origin

档

pictophoneticwood

Decomposition: ⿰木当 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 档

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
档案noundàng ànfile6
高档adjectivegāo dàngsuperior quality5
文档nounwén dàng(computer) file6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
搭档verbdā dàngto cooperate
档子measuredàng ziclassifier for affairs, events etc
档次noundàng cìgrade
归档verbguī dàngto file away
存档verbcún dàngto archive
档案馆noundàng àn guǎnarchive library
老搭档lǎo dā dànglongtime partner
低档adjectivedī dànglow-grade
中档adjectivezhōng dàngmid-range (in quality and price)
建档jiàn dàngto establish records
文档对象模型wén dàng duì xiàng mó xíngDocument Object Model (DOM)
高档服装gāo dàng fú zhuānghaute couture
档案总管dàng àn zǒng guǎn(computing) file manager
打档车dǎ dǎng chē(Tw) manual transmission motorcycle (usually denotes a traditional-style motorcycle, as opposed to a scooter)
档案传输协定dàng àn chuán shū xié dìngFile Transfer Protocol (FTP)
53
Total compounds
23
As first character
64
As last character
13
As middle character

档 appears in 53 compound words: 23 as the first character, 64 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 档 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

案àn
0.60320,578 co-occurrences
搭dā
0.56312,860 co-occurrences
馆guǎn
0.5105,512 co-occurrences
强qiáng
0.4603,568 co-occurrences
兽shòu
0.409442 co-occurrences
存cún
0.4013,152 co-occurrences
赌dǔ
0.39711 co-occurrences
文wén
0.3959,798 co-occurrences
竞jìng
0.387648 co-occurrences
暑shǔ
0.377202 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这份档案需要妥善保管,不能随意借阅。

Zhè fèn dàng'àn xūyào tuǒshàn bǎoguǎn, bùnéng suíyì jièyuè.

This file needs to be properly kept and cannot be borrowed casually.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

玉山投信首档ETF‘00988B 玉山严选非投债ET...

yù shān tóu xìn shǒu dàng E T F 0 0 9 8 8 B yù shān yán xuǎn fēi tóu zhài E T . . .

Yushan Investment Trust's first ETF '00988B Yushan Yanxuan Non-investment Bond ET...

三立新聞網Feb 2026

台股金蛇年这7档规模翻倍增 吸金力道猛

tái gǔ jīn shé nián zhè 7 dàng guī mó fān bèi zēng xī jīn lì dào měng

The scale of these 7 gears in the Year of the Golden Snake of Taiwan stocks has doubled, and the gold absorption is fierce

百度新闻Feb 2026

AI“硬控”春节档,电影为何更有“人味”了

A I yìng kòng chūn jié dàng , diàn yǐng wéi hé gēng yǒu rén wèi le

AI "hard controls" the Spring Festival file, why is the movie more "human"

百度新闻Feb 2026

冬奥会|家乡连线:“最强夫妻档”!电影都不敢这么演..

dōng ào huì jiā xiāng lián xiàn : zuì qiáng fū qī dàng ! diàn yǐng dōu bù gǎn zhè má yǎn . .

Winter Olympics|Hometown Connection: "The Strongest Couple"! The movie doesn't dare to act like this:

百度新闻Feb 2026

春晚的另一场“巷战”:AI挤进春节档,不止为了发红..

chūn wǎn de lìng yī chǎng xiàng zhàn jǐ jìn chūn jié dǎng , bù zhǐ wéi le fā hóng . .

Another "Alley-oop" at the Spring Festival Gala: AI is squeezing into the Spring Festival slot, not just to send out red...

Tatoeba

慧如那个简报档还没传喔?客户在催。

Huì rú nàge jiǎnbào dǎng hái méi chuán ō? kèhù zài cuī.

Hasn't Huiru sent the slides yet? The client's pushing.

Tatoeba

羊屁股先生可没告诉我还有搭档。

Yáng pìgu xiānsheng kě méi gàosu wǒ háiyǒu dādàng.

Mr. Goat Butt never told me there would be a partner.

Tatoeba

我需要去查一下档案。

Wǒ xūyào qù chá yīxià dàng'àn.

I need to have a quick look at the files.

Tatoeba

汤姆把文档译成法语。

Tāngmǔ bǎ wéndàng yìchéng Fǎyǔ.

Tom translated the document into French.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 木 (wood) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced dàng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 档 (dàng) mean in Chinese?
档 (dàng) primarily means "(bound form) shelves (for files)." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1770 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 档 have?
档 is written with 10 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 档?
The radical associated with 档 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 档?
档 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 当 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木当 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 档?
Common words with 档 include: 搭档 (dā dàng, "to cooperate"); 档案 (dàng àn, "file"); 高档 (gāo dàng, "superior quality"); 文档 (wén dàng, "(computer) file"); 档子 (dàng zi, "classifier for affairs, events etc"). There are over 53 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 档 (dàng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation dàng: 当 ((onom.) dong), 党 (party), 荡 (to wash), 挡 (to resist). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 档 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 档 and the traditional form is 檔.

Practice writing 档 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.