擅 (shàn): without authority, to usurp, to arrogate to oneself
擅 (shàn) is a Chinese character meaning “without authority.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 亶 (phonetic). It ranks #2307 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 擅 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).
Definitions
- without authority
- to usurp
- to arrogate to oneself
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 擅 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 擅
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 擅自 | shàn zì | without permission |
| 擅离职守 | shàn lí zhí shǒu | to abscond |
| 擅美 | shàn měi | to enjoy fame without sharing it |
| 擅场 | shàn chǎng | to excel in some field |
| 擅权 | shàn quán | to arrogate power |
| 擅断 | shàn duàn | arbitrary |
| 专擅 | zhuān shàn | without authorization |
| 宠擅专房 | chǒng shàn zhuān fáng | an especially favored concubine (idiom) |
| 擅闯 | shàn chuǎng | to enter without permission |
擅 appears in 10 compound words: 80 as the first character, 10 as the last, and 10 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 擅 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
妈妈擅着孩子的手，慢慢地过马路。
mā mā shàn zhe hái zǐ de shǒu , màn màn dì guò mǎ lù .
Mom held her child's hand and slowly crossed the street.
独家/怪男闯车厂擅自发动重机、背刀子闯教会
dú jiā guài nán chuǎng chē hǎn shàn zì fā dòng chóng jī , bèi dāo zǐ chuǎng jiào huì
克林顿夫妇爱泼斯坦案作证 希拉里不满遭擅自拍照愤然离席|有片
kè lín dùn fū fù ài pō sī tǎn àn zuò zhèng xī lā lǐ bù mǎn zāo shàn zì pāi zhào fèn rán lí xí yǒu piàn
Clinton and his wife testified in the Epstein case Hillary was dissatisfied with being photographed without permission and left the table angrily|There is a video
国军实弹演训...男开车擅闯军事管制区 法院依违反国安法判刑2月
guó jūn shí dàn yǎn xùn . . . nán kāi chē shàn chuǎng jūn shì guǎn zhì qū fǎ yuàn yī wéi fǎn guó ān fǎ pàn xíng 2 yuè
National Army live-fire drills... The man drove into the military control area and was sentenced to two months in prison for violating the National Security Law
擅闯特朗普住所海湖庄园警戒线男子被击毙 白...
shàn chuǎng tè lǎng pǔ zhù suǒ hǎi hú zhuāng yuán jǐng jiè xiàn nán zǐ bèi jī bì bái . . .
A man who trespassed on the cordon of Mar-a-Lago at Trump's residence was killed.
你擅长说哪种语言？
Nǐ shàncháng shuō nǎ zhǒng yǔyán?
What languages are you good at speaking?
他擅长应付小孩子。
Tā shàncháng yìngfu xiǎoháizi.
He is good at dealing with children.
但是他不擅于阅读英文。
Dànshì tā bù shàn yú yuèdú Yīngwén.
But he is bad at reading English.
我不是很擅长游泳。
Wǒ bù shì hěn shàncháng yóuyǒng.
I'm not very good at swimming.
他非常擅长拉小提琴。
Tā fēicháng shàncháng lā xiǎotíqín.
He is very good at playing violin.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 擅 (shàn) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 擅 and 颤?
How many strokes does 擅 have?
What is the radical of 擅?
What are the components of 擅?
What are common words containing 擅?
What characters sound the same as 擅 (shàn)?
Is 擅 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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