钠 (nà): sodium (chemistry)

钠 (nà) is a Chinese character meaning “sodium (chemistry).” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 钅 (semantic) and 内 (phonetic). It ranks #3171 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 钠 metal. Its radical form 钅 (metal) appears in many related characters such as 金 (jīn, metal, gold), 钱 (qián, money), 银 (yín, silver, bank).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. sodium (chemistry)

Etymology & Origin

钠

pictophoneticmetal

Decomposition: ⿰钅内 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
氢氧化钠nounqīng yǎng huà nàsodium hydroxide NaOH
氯化钠nounlǜ huà nàsodium chloride NaCl
硝酸钠xiāo suān nàsodium nitrate
碳酸钠nountàn suān nàsoda
氰化钠qíng huà nàsodium cyanide NaCN
二氯异三聚氰酸钠èr lǜ yì sān jù qíng suān nàsodium dichloroisocyanurate
次亚硫酸钠nouncì yà liú suān nàsodium hyposulfide Na2S2O3 (hypo)
二硫基琥珀酸钠èr liú jī hǔ pò suān nàsodium dimercaptosuccinate
碘化钠diǎn huà nàsodium iodide NaI
戊巴比妥钠wù bā bǐ tuǒ nàpentasorbital sodium (a sedative)
硫代硫酸钠nounliú dài liú suān nàsodium hyposulfide
亚硝酸钠yà xiāo suān nàsodium nitrite
二硫基丙磺酸钠èr liú jī bǐng huáng suān nàsodium dimercaptosulfanate
双氯芬酸钠shuāng lǜ fēn suān nàdiclofenac sodium, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug used to reduce swelling and as painkiller
苛性钠nounkē xìng nàsodium hydroxide NaOH
25
Total compounds
0
As first character
100
As last character
0
As middle character

钠 appears in 25 compound words: 0 as the first character, 100 as the last, and 0 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 钠 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

池chí
0.53810 co-occurrences
量liàng
0.39714 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·生活Sep 2026

尽量挑选脂肪、钠含量偏低的产品,如果是新版标签,还可进一步留意总脂肪项下的饱和脂肪。

jǐn liàng tiāo xuǎn zhī fáng , nà hán liàng piān dī de chǎn pǐn , rú guǒ shì xīn bǎn biāo qiān , hái kě jìn yī bù liú yì zǒng zhī fáng xiàng xià de bǎo hé zhī fáng .

Try to choose products that are low in fat and sodium. If the label is the new version, you should also pay attention to the saturated fat content listed under “Total Fat.”

爱范儿Sep 2026

倪军认为,钠离子电池和凝聚态电池可以兼容现有生产线,更接近规模化应用。

ní jūn rèn wéi , nà lí zǐ diàn chí hé níng jù tài diàn chí kě yǐ jiān róng xiàn yǒu shēng chǎn xiàn , gèng jiē jìn guī mó huà yīng yòng .

Ni Jun believes that sodium-ion batteries and solid-state batteries are compatible with existing production lines and are closer to large-scale application.

中国新闻网·生活Sep 2026

多喝水确实能够让我们的体内的钠离子稀释,随着尿量的增加,把它排出去。

duō hē shuǐ què shí néng gòu ràng wǒ men de tǐ nèi de nà lí zǐ xī shì , suí zhe niào liàng de zēng jiā , bǎ tā pái chū qù .

Drinking plenty of water does indeed help dilute the sodium ions in our bodies, and as urine output increases, these ions are flushed out.

中国新闻网·生活Jun 2026

比如左旋甲状腺素钠等,咖啡会使这些药物的肠道吸收减少一半左右,减弱了药效。

bǐ rú zuǒ xuán jiǎ zhuàng xiàn sù nà děng , kā fēi huì shǐ zhè xiē yào wù de cháng dào xī shōu jiǎn shǎo yī bàn zuǒ yòu , jiǎn ruò le yào xiào .

For example, with medications such as levothyroxine sodium, coffee can reduce the intestinal absorption of these drugs by about half, thereby diminishing their effectiveness.

奇客SolidotJun 2026

在考虑了超加工食品的营养质量,以及饱和脂肪、添加糖或钠的含量之后,这种关联仍然存在。

zài kǎo lǜ le chāo jiā gōng shí pǐn de yíng yǎng zhì liàng , yǐ jí bǎo hé zhī fáng , tiān jiā táng huò nà de hán liàng zhī hòu , zhè zhǒng guān lián réng rán cún zài .

This association persists even after taking into account the nutritional quality of ultra-processed foods, as well as their levels of saturated fat, added sugars, or sodium.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 钅 (metal) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced nà

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 钠 (nà) mean in Chinese?
钠 (nà) primarily means "sodium (chemistry)." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3171 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 钠 have?
钠 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 钠?
The radical associated with 钠 is 钅 (metal). This radical appears in many characters related to metal.
What are the components of 钠?
钠 is composed of: 钅 (semantic), 内 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰钅内 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 钠?
Common words with 钠 include: 氢氧化钠 (qīng yǎng huà nà, "sodium hydroxide NaOH"); 氯化钠 (lǜ huà nà, "sodium chloride NaCl"); 硝酸钠 (xiāo suān nà, "sodium nitrate"); 碳酸钠 (tàn suān nà, "soda"); 氰化钠 (qíng huà nà, "sodium cyanide NaCN"). There are over 25 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 钠 (nà)?
Several characters share the pronunciation nà: 纳 (to accept, to pay), 呐 (battle cry). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 钠 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 钠 and the traditional form is 鈉.

Practice writing 钠 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.