婪 (lán): avaricious

婪 (lán) is a Chinese character meaning “avaricious.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 林 (phonetic) and 女 (semantic). It ranks #2802 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 婪 woman. Its radical form 女 (woman) appears in many related characters such as 女 (nǚ, woman), 奶 (nǎi, grandmother, milk), 她 (tā, she).

Native pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 女 woman11 strokesFrequency #2802林 phonetic 女 semantic

Definitions

avaricious

Etymology & Origin

婪

pictophoneticwoman

Decomposition: ⿱林女 (layout: top-bottom)

Components:林phonetic 女semantic

Stroke Order

Practice writing 婪 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
贪婪	tān lán	avaricious
贪婪无厌	tān lán wú yàn	avaricious and insatiable (idiom)

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

婪 appears in 2 compound words: 0 as the first character, 50 as the last, and 50 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 婪 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

贪tān

0.7665,094 co-occurrences

吝lìn

0.49090 co-occurrences

啬sè

0.48936 co-occurrences

猾huá

0.45978 co-occurrences

狡jiǎo

0.44078 co-occurrences

虐nüè

0.434234 co-occurrences

惰duò

0.43066 co-occurrences

鄙bǐ

0.41266 co-occurrences

厌yàn

0.41190 co-occurrences

残cán

0.397234 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

贪婪无厌tānlánwúyànHSK 7+

avaricious; greedy; not able to settle for less

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

婪娲补天的故事在中国流传了几千年。

lán 娲 bǔ tiān de gù shì zài zhōng guó liú chuán le jī qiān nián .

The story of Nuwa patching the sky has been passed down for thousands of years in China.

TvbsApr 2026

长辈容易被爱情诈骗!不是贪婪医揭关键原因:3种缺口

cháng bèi róng yì bèi ài qíng zhà piàn ! bù shì tān lán yī jiē guān jiàn yuán yīn : 3 zhǒng quē kǒu

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Apr 2026

丹麦专家观神韵领悟“不可贪婪”的普世价值观

dān mài zhuān jiā guàn shén yùn lǐng wù bù kě tān lán de pǔ shì jià zhí guàn

Nownews今日新聞Mar 2026

为一个“贪婪罪犯”上凯道?前幕僚开呛柯文哲:践踏民主...

wéi yī gè tān lán zuì fàn shàng kǎi dào ? qián mù liáo kāi qiàng 柯 wén zhé : jiàn tà mín zhǔ . . .

Taking a "greedy criminal" to Ketagalan Boulevard? Former aide lashes out at Ko Wen-je: Trampling on democracy...

Investing 香港Feb 2026

“别人恐惧我贪婪“!“Citrini恐慌”标记市场底部,...

bié rén kǒng jù wǒ tān lán ! C i t r i n i kǒng huāng biāo jì shì chǎng de bù , . . .

"Others are afraid of my greed"! Citrini Panic "Marks Market Bottom,...

Tatoeba

守财奴积聚钱财不是因为他谨慎，而是因为他贪婪。

Shǒucáinú jījù qiáncái bù shì yīnwèi tā jǐnshèn, érshì yīnwèi tā tānlán.

A miser hoards money not because he is prudent but because he is greedy.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 婪 (lán) mean in Chinese?

婪 (lán) primarily means "avaricious." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2802 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 婪 and 禁?

婪 (lán) and 禁 (jīn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 女 vs 礻 (same 林 component).

How many strokes does 婪 have?

婪 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 婪?

The radical associated with 婪 is 女 (woman). This radical appears in many characters related to woman.

What are the components of 婪?

婪 is composed of: 林 (phonetic), 女 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱林女 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 婪?

Common words with 婪 include: 贪婪 (tān lán, "avaricious"); 贪婪无厌 (tān lán wú yàn, "avaricious and insatiable (idiom)"). There are over 2 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 婪 (lán)?

Several characters share the pronunciation lán: 兰 (abbr. for Lanzhou 蘭州|兰州, Gansu), 拦 (to block sb's path), 栏 (fence), 蓝 (blue), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 婪 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 婪 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 婪 with real-time feedback

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