垫 (diàn): pad, cushion, mat

垫 (diàn) is a Chinese character meaning “pad.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 执 (phonetic) and 土 (semantic). It ranks #2487 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 垫 earth. Its radical form 土 (earth) appears in many related characters such as 在 (zài, to exist), 地 (dì, earth, ground), 场 (chǎng, field, place).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. pad
  2. cushion
  3. mat

Etymology & Origin

垫

pictophoneticearth

Decomposition: ⿱执土 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
垫底verbdiàn dǐto put sth on the bottom
垫子noundiàn zicushion
床垫nounchuáng diànmattress
坐垫nounzuò diàncushion
衬垫nounchèn diànpad
靠垫nounkào diànback cushion
气垫nounqì diànair cushion (as on hovercraft)
鞋垫nounxié diàninsole
垫脚石noundiàn jiǎo shístepping stone
座垫zuò diànsaddle (of a bicycle)
垫圈noundiàn juànto spread litter in a cowshed, pigsty etc
垫肩noundiàn jiānshoulder pad
气垫船nounqì diàn chuánhovercraft
铺垫verbpū diànto spread out bedding
垫脚diàn jiaolitter (animal bedding)
51
Total compounds
45
As first character
49
As last character
6
As middle character

垫 appears in 51 compound words: 45 as the first character, 49 as the last, and 6 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 垫 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

衬chèn
0.571214 co-occurrences
铺pù
0.538518 co-occurrences
橡xiàng
0.512264 co-occurrences
胶jiāo
0.492278 co-occurrences
床chuáng
0.490393 co-occurrences
底dǐ
0.4771,144 co-occurrences
枕zhěn
0.41656 co-occurrences
脚jiǎo
0.405146 co-occurrences
付fù
0.400280 co-occurrences
气qì
0.393378 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

春天到了,农民开始翻垫播种。

chūn tiān dào le , nóng mín kāi shǐ fān diàn bō zhǒng .

Spring has arrived, and farmers have begun turning over the soil and sowing seeds.

光明网_新闻视野、文化视角、思想深度、理论高度Mar 2026

重庆垫江:三甲医院下乡来

chóng qìng diàn jiāng : sān jiǎ yī yuàn xià xiāng lái

Dianjiang, Chongqing: A Top-Tier Hospital Brings Medical Services to Rural Areas

SmzdmMar 2026

老人小孩,腰不好的人床垫怎么选?看这条视频就完全够了,17分钟全...

lǎo rén xiǎo hái , yāo bù hǎo de rén chuáng diàn zěn má xuǎn ? kàn zhè tiáo shì pín jiù wán quán gòu le , 1 7 fēn zhōng quán . . .

How should seniors, children, and people with back problems choose a mattress? Just watch this video—it’s all you need. It’s 17 minutes long...

SmzdmMar 2026

蓝盒子Z1床垫软硬之争:是“黄金睡感”还是“支撑不足”...

lán hé zǐ Z 1 chuáng diàn ruǎn yìng zhī zhēng : shì huáng jīn shuì gǎn hái shì zhī chēng bù zú . . .

The Debate Over the Firmness of the Blue Box Z1 Mattress: Is It the "Perfect Sleep Experience" or "Lacks Support"...

LtnMar 2026

PLG》震撼!吴永仁为战绩逼近垫底请辞勇士教练 许晋哲回归

P L G zhèn hàn ! wú yǒng rén wéi zhàn jì bī jìn diàn de qǐng cí yǒng shì jiào liàn xǔ jìn zhé huí guī

PLG: Shocking! Wu Yongren Resigns as Warriors Coach Amid Struggles Near the Bottom of the Standings; Hsu Chin-che Returns

Am730Feb 2026

夜王|郑秀文被要求胸部垫Pad演V姐 Sammi..每边doub...

yè wáng zhèng xiù wén bèi yāo qiú xiōng bù diàn P a d yǎn V jiě S a m m i . . měi biān d o u b . . .

Night King|Sammi Cheng was asked to play Sister V with a pad on her chest. Every side doub...

Tatoeba

汤姆把钱藏在床垫底下。

Tāngmǔ bǎ qián cáng zài chuángdiàn dǐxia.

Tom hid his money under his mattress.

Tatoeba

进家门后,我被垫子绊倒了。

Jìn jiāmén hòu, wǒ bèi diànzi bàndǎo le.

Entering the house, I tripped over the mat.

Tatoeba

我在擦鞋垫下面发现了这把钥匙。

Wǒ zài cāxiédiàn xiàmiàn fāxiàn le zhè bǎ yàoshi.

I found the key underneath the mat.

Tatoeba

我的气垫船满是鳝鱼。

Wǒ de qìdiànchuán mǎn shì shànyú.

My hovercraft is full of eels.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 土 (earth) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced diàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 垫 (diàn) mean in Chinese?
垫 (diàn) primarily means "pad." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2487 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 垫 and 热?
垫 (diàn) and 热 (rè) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 土 vs 灬 (same 执 component).
How many strokes does 垫 have?
垫 is written with 9 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 垫?
The radical associated with 垫 is 土 (earth). This radical appears in many characters related to earth.
What are the components of 垫?
垫 is composed of: 执 (phonetic), 土 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱执土 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 垫?
Common words with 垫 include: 垫底 (diàn dǐ, "to put sth on the bottom"); 垫子 (diàn zi, "cushion"); 床垫 (chuáng diàn, "mattress"); 坐垫 (zuò diàn, "cushion"); 衬垫 (chèn diàn, "pad"). There are over 51 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 垫 (diàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation diàn: 点 (point, o'clock), 电 (lightning), 店 (shop), 典 (canon), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 垫 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 垫 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 垫 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.