楠 (nán): Machilus nanmu, Chinese cedar, Chinese giant redwood

楠 (nán) is a Chinese character meaning “machilus nanmu.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 木 (semantic) and 南 (phonetic). It ranks #3868 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 楠 tree. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 木 (mù, wood/tree), 林 (lín, forest, woods), 森 (sēn, forest (dense)).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. Machilus nanmu
  2. Chinese cedar
  3. Chinese giant redwood

Etymology & Origin

楠

pictophonetictree

Decomposition: ⿰木南 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
石楠shí nánChinese photinia (Photinia serratifolia)
楠格哈尔省nán gé hā ěr shěngNangarhar province of Afghanistan
王楠wáng nánWang Nan (1978-), female PRC table tennis player, Olympic medalist
楠梓区nán zǐ qūNanzi or Nantzu district of Kaohsiung city 高雄市, south Taiwan
楠木nounnán mùPhoebe zhennan
楠竹nán zhúsee 毛竹
楠梓nán zǐNanzi or Nantzu district of Kaohsiung city 高雄市, south Taiwan
7
Total compounds
71
As first character
29
As last character
0
As middle character

楠 appears in 7 compound words: 71 as the first character, 29 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·体育Sep 2026

男子85公斤级比赛,首次参加亚运会的中国队小将陈舜楠摘得一枚铜牌。

nán zǐ 8 5 gōng jīn jí bǐ sài , shǒu cì cān jiā yà yùn huì de zhōng guó duì xiǎo jiāng chén 舜 nán zhāi dé yī méi tóng pái .

In the men’s 85-kilogram weight class, Chen Shunnan, a young Chinese athlete making his Asian Games debut, won a bronze medal.

中国新闻网·体育Sep 2026

中新社 记者 崔楠 摄 中国射击队包揽女子25米手枪团体和个人两枚金牌。

zhōng xīn shè jì zhě cuī nán shè zhōng guó shè jī duì bāo lǎn nǚ zǐ 2 5 mǐ shǒu qiāng tuán tǐ hé gè rén liǎng méi jīn pái .

Photo by Cui Nan, China News Service. The Chinese shooting team swept both the women’s 25-meter pistol team and individual gold medals.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

前两轮演出贡献出精彩表演的特邀演员闫楠,在本轮排演中直呼“走到一条极具挑战的路上”。

qián liǎng lún yǎn chū gòng xiàn chū jīng cǎi biǎo yǎn de tè yāo yǎn yuán yán nán , zài běn lún pái yǎn zhōng zhí hū zǒu dào yī tiáo jí jù tiāo zhàn de lù shàng .

Yan Nan, a guest performer who delivered outstanding performances in the first two rounds, remarked during this round of rehearsals that she had “embarked on an extremely challenging journey.”

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

周木楠:希望苏暮雨成为能够反复回味的角色

zhōu mù nán : xī wàng sū mù yǔ chéng wéi néng gòu fǎn fù huí wèi de jiǎo sè

Zhou Munan: I hope Su Muyu becomes a character that audiences can revisit time and again

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

杨烨楠 摄 比赛前,主客场球迷入场通道分别设置“安逸熊猫×成都蓉城”主题互动打卡点。

yáng 烨 nán shè bǐ sài qián , zhǔ kè chǎng qiú mí rù chǎng tōng dào fēn bié shè zhì ān yì xióng māo chéng dōu róng chéng zhǔ tí hù dòng dǎ kǎ diǎn .

Photo by Yang Yennan. Before the match, “An Yi Panda × Chengdu Rongcheng” themed interactive photo spots were set up along the entry corridors for home and away fans, respectively.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 木 (tree) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced nán

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 楠 (nán) mean in Chinese?
楠 (nán) primarily means "machilus nanmu." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3868 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 楠 and 献?
楠 (nán) and 献 (xiàn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 木 vs 犭 (same 南 component).
How many strokes does 楠 have?
楠 is written with 13 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 楠?
The radical associated with 楠 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 楠?
楠 is composed of: 木 (semantic), 南 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰木南 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 楠?
Common words with 楠 include: 石楠 (shí nán, "Chinese photinia (Photinia serratifolia)"); 楠格哈尔省 (nán gé hā ěr shěng, "Nangarhar province of Afghanistan"); 王楠 (wáng nán, "Wang Nan (1978-), female PRC table tennis player, Olympic medalist"); 楠梓区 (nán zǐ qū, "Nanzi or Nantzu district of Kaohsiung city 高雄市, south Taiwan"); 楠木 (nán mù, "Phoebe zhennan"). There are over 7 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 楠 (nán)?
Several characters share the pronunciation nán: 喃 (mumble in repetition). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 楠 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 楠 and the traditional form is 枏.

Practice writing 楠 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.