甘 (gān): abbr. for Gansu Province 甘肅省|甘肃省, (bound form) sweet, pleasant (contrasted with 苦: bitter, unpleasant), to be willing (to do sth)
甘 (gān) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) sweet.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 卄 (structural) and 二 (structural). It ranks #1400 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 甘 picture of a tongue with 一 marking the sweet spot. Its radical form 甘 (sweet) appears in many related characters such as 甜 (tián, sweet), 甚 (shèn, excessive).
Definitions
- abbr. for Gansu Province 甘肅省|甘肃省
- (bound form) sweet
- pleasant (contrasted with 苦: bitter, unpleasant)
- to be willing (to do sth)
Etymology & Origin
ideographicPicture of a tongue with 一 marking the sweet spot
Decomposition: ⿵卄二 (layout: surround-from-top)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 甘 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 甘油noun | gān yóu | glycerine |
| 心甘情愿phrase | xīn gān qíng yuàn | delighted to (do sth, idiom) |
| 甘愿verb | gān yuàn | willingly |
| 甘心verb | gān xīn | to be willing to |
| 甘蓝noun | gān lán | cabbage |
| 甘草noun | gān cǎo | licorice root |
| 甘蔗noun | gān zhe | sugar cane |
| 甘甜adjective | gān tián | sweet |
| 同甘共苦phrase | tóng gān gòng kǔ | shared delights and common hardships (idiom) |
| 甘地proper-noun | gān dì | (Mahatma) Gandhi |
| 甘薯noun | gān shǔ | sweet potato |
| 不甘verb | bù gān | unreconciled to |
| 硝酸甘油noun | xiāo suān gān yóu | nitroglycerine |
| 苦尽甘来phrase | kǔ jìn gān lái | bitterness finishes, sweetness begins (idiom) |
| 甘于verb | gān yú | to be willing to |
甘 appears in 99 compound words: 63 as the first character, 9 as the last, and 28 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 甘 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (14)
to not be content to lag behind; to hate being outdone; to be not content to fall behind or not exceed
to be more than willing to do something; to be perfectly happy to do something
to not be content to lag behind; to hate being outdone; to be not content to fall behind or not exceed
to be more than willing to do something; to be perfectly happy to do something
Showing 12 of 14 idioms containing 甘.
Example Sentences
甘字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。
gān zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .
The character "甘" has different usages in different contexts.
...运重现怀旧女车掌 高雄“真车掌”分享职涯甘苦
. . . yùn chóng xiàn huái jiù nǚ chē zhǎng gāo xióng zhēn chē zhǎng fēn xiǎng zhí yá gān kǔ
... The luck recreates the nostalgic female conductor Kaohsiung's "real conductor" shares the joys and sorrows of his career
【新春启新程】甘肃:跳起摸高促发展_光明网
xīn chūn qǐ xīn chéng gān sù : tiào qǐ mō gāo cù fā zhǎn guāng míng wǎng
Gansu: Jump up and touch the high to promote development_Guangming.com
...红—全网疯玩“热狗肠包X” 珍珠虾滑杨枝甘露乜都塞
. . . hóng — quán wǎng fēng wán rè gǒu cháng bāo X zhēn zhū xiā huá yáng zhī gān lù 乜 dōu sāi
... Red - the whole network is crazy to play "hot dog sausage bun X" pearl shrimp slippery poplar branch nectar is stuffed with everything
...书店”留客秘诀曝光!活动出席达9成 铁粉甘心原价买书
. . . shū diàn liú kè mì jué pù guāng ! huó dòng chū xí dá 9 chéng tiě fěn gān xīn yuán jià mǎi shū
... The secret of "bookstore" retention is exposed! 90% of the attendees of the event were willing to buy books at the original price
甘肃公交建集团彭大、灵华高速以坚守护平安 ...
gān sù gōng jiāo jiàn jí tuán 彭 dà , líng huá gāo sù yǐ jiān shǒu hù píng ān . . .
Gansu Public Transport Construction Group Peng Da and Linghua Expressway to protect safety ...
约翰甘迺迪被安葬在阿灵顿公墓。
Yuēhàn Gānnǎidí bèi ānzàng zài ā líng dùn gōngmù.
J.F. Kennedy was buried in Arlington Cemetery.
咳嗽糖浆有股甘草的味道。
Késou tángjiāng yǒu gǔ gāncǎo de wèidao.
The cough syrup has a licorice flavoring.
他尝了尝羽衣甘蓝。
Tā cháng le cháng yǔyīgānlán.
He tasted the kale.
玛丽做了羽衣甘蓝藜麦沙拉。
Mǎlì zuò le yǔyīgānlán límài shālā.
Mary made a kale and quinoa salad.
Character Family
甘 Radical Family — Characters sharing the sweet radical
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 甘 (gān) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 甘 and 苦?
How many strokes does 甘 have?
What is the radical of 甘?
What are the components of 甘?
What are common words containing 甘?
What characters sound the same as 甘 (gān)?
Is 甘 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 甘 with real-time feedback
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