染 (rǎn): to dye, to catch (a disease), to acquire (bad habits etc)

染 (rǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “to dye.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氿 (structural) and 木 (structural). It ranks #1139 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 染 water 氵 and wine 九 mixed in a wooden 木 bowl. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to dye
  2. to catch (a disease)
  3. to acquire (bad habits etc)

Etymology & Origin

染

ideographicWater 氵 and wine 九 mixed in a wooden 木 bowl

Decomposition: ⿱氿木 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 染

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
感染verbgǎn rǎnto infect6
污染verbwū rǎn(lit. and fig.) to pollute4
传染verbchuán rǎnto infect6
传染病nounchuán rǎn bìnginfectious disease6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
染色体nounrǎn sè tǐchromosome
染上rǎn shàngto catch (a disease)
感染力noungǎn rǎn lìinfectiousness (of a disease)
染指verbrǎn zhǐto dip a finger (idiom)
传染性nounchuán rǎn xìnginfectious
染料nounrǎn liàodye
染发verbrǎn fàto get one's hair dyed
染色verbrǎn sèto dye
污染物nounwū rǎn wùpollutant
感染者noungǎn rǎn zhěinfected person
渲染verbxuàn rǎnrendering (computing)
一尘不染phraseyī chén bù rǎn(idiom) untainted by even a speck of dust
沾染verbzhān rǎnto pollute (often fig.)
染病verbrǎn bìngto catch an illness
染发剂nounrǎn fà jìhair dye
80
Total compounds
23
As first character
51
As last character
26
As middle character

染 appears in 80 compound words: 23 as the first character, 51 as the last, and 26 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 染 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

污wū
0.76236,917 co-occurrences
渲xuàn
0.72734 co-occurrences
症zhèng
0.66426,094 co-occurrences
感gǎn
0.64093,870 co-occurrences
状zhuàng
0.63124,184 co-occurrences
病bìng
0.53222,058 co-occurrences
肺fèi
0.5223,836 co-occurrences
菌jūn
0.5053,586 co-occurrences
者zhě
0.48432,698 co-occurrences
筛shāi
0.48314 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

病毒感染bìng dú gǎn rǎnHSK 6+

viral infection

phrase
大气污染dà qì wū rǎnHSK 4+

air pollution; atmospheric pollution

phrase
飞沫传染fēi mò chuán rǎnHSK 7+

droplet infection (disease transmission from sneezing, coughing etc)

phrase
环境污染huánjìng wūrǎnHSK 4+

environmental pollution

noun
交叉感染jiāochā gǎnrǎnHSK 5+

cross-infection

noun
空气污染kōngqì wūrǎnHSK 4+

air pollution

noun
染风习俗rǎn fēng xí súHSK 5+

bad habits; to get into bad habits through long custom

phrase
染指于鼎rǎn zhǐ yú dǐngHSK 7+

lit. dip one's finger in the tripod (idiom); fig. to get one's finger in the pie; to get a share of the action

phrase
纤尘不染xiān chén bù rǎnHSK 7+

see 一塵不染|一尘不染

phrase
一尘不染yīchénbùrǎnHSK 6+

to be unstained by an evil environment; to be selfless and incorruptible; to be immaculate; to be spotless

phrase
耳濡目染ěrrúmùrǎnHSK 4+

to be influenced by the surrounding environment

phrase
染指垂涎rǎn zhǐ chuí xiánHSK 6+

lit. dirty finger, mouth watering (idiom); fig. greedy to seize sth

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

爷爷在门前种了一棵染苗,现在已经长得很高了。

yé yé zài mén qián zhǒng le yī kē rǎn miáo , xiàn zài yǐ jīng cháng dé hěn gāo le .

Grandpa planted a sapling by the door, and now it has grown quite tall.

99 健康网Feb 2026

...下面窄到一根手指都疼是怎么回事?是不是感染了某种妇科病

. . . xià miàn zhǎi dào yī gēn shǒu zhǐ dōu téng shì zěn má huí shì ? shì bù shì gǎn rǎn le mǒu zhǒng fù kē bìng

... What's going on with the bottom so narrow that a finger hurts? Is it infected with some kind of gynecological disease?

It之家Feb 2026

...表明:监管缺失的商业航天活动正成为大气污染新威胁

. . . biǎo míng : jiān guǎn quē shī de shāng yè háng tiān huó dòng zhèng chéng wéi dà qì wū rǎn xīn wēi xié

... It shows that commercial space activities without regulation are becoming a new threat to air pollution

It之家Feb 2026

科学家针对全球 95% 人口感染的 EB 病毒取得关键突破,为移植患者带...

kē xué jiā zhēn duì quán qiú 9 5 rén kǒu gǎn rǎn de E B bìng dú qǔ dé guān jiàn tū pò , wéi yí zhí huàn zhě dài . . .

Scientists have made a key breakthrough in the field of EBV, which infects 95% of the world's population, bringing transplant patients...

EttodayFeb 2026

长假后“性病筛检增3成” 泌尿医曝观察:染淋病、披衣菌最常见

cháng jiǎ hòu xìng bìng shāi jiǎn zēng 3 chéng mì niào yī pù guàn chá : rǎn lín bìng , pī yī jūn zuì cháng jiàn

After the long holiday, "STD screening increased by 30%" Urologist exposure observation: gonorrhea and chlamydia are the most common

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

蓝白喊关税重启谈判昔前功尽弃 他批刻意渲染恐慌

lán bái hǎn guān shuì chóng qǐ tán pàn xī qián gōng jǐn qì tā pī kè yì 渲 rǎn kǒng huāng

Blue and white shouted tariffs to restart negotiations, and his criticism deliberately exaggerated panic

Tatoeba

工厂的废料导致了严重的环境污染。

Gōngchǎng de fèiliào dǎozhì le yánzhòng de huánjìng wūrǎn.

The factory waste gave rise to serious environmental pollution.

Tatoeba

疟疾是由蚊子传染的。

Nüèjí shì yóu wénzi chuánrǎn de.

Malaria is carried by mosquitoes.

Tatoeba

废水经常污染海洋。

Fèishuǐ jīngcháng wūrǎn hǎiyáng.

Sewage often pollutes the ocean.

Tatoeba

空气被废气污染了。

Kōngqì bèi fèiqì wūrǎn le.

The air was polluted by exhaust gas.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced rǎn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 染 (rǎn) mean in Chinese?
染 (rǎn) primarily means "to dye." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #1139 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 染 have?
染 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 染?
The radical associated with 染 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 染?
染 is composed of: 氿 (structural), 木 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱氿木 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 染?
Common words with 染 include: 感染 (gǎn rǎn, "to infect"); 污染 (wū rǎn, "(lit. and fig.) to pollute"); 传染 (chuán rǎn, "to infect"); 传染病 (chuán rǎn bìng, "infectious disease"); 染色体 (rǎn sè tǐ, "chromosome"). There are over 80 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 染 (rǎn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation rǎn: 然 (nature, thus), 燃 (to burn). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 染 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 染 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 染 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.