陕 (shǎn): Shaanxi (province in northwest China), abbr. for Shaanxi 陝西|陕西 province

陕 (shǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “shaanxi (province in northwest china).” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 阝 (structural) and 夹 (structural). It ranks #5393 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 陕 a place 阝 wedged in a valley 夹. Its radical form 阝 (mound) appears in many related characters such as 那 (nà, (specifier) that), 都 (dōu, all), 院 (yuàn, courtyard).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. Shaanxi (province in northwest China)
  2. abbr. for Shaanxi 陝西|陕西 province

Etymology & Origin

陕

ideographicA place 阝 wedged in a valley 夹

Decomposition: ⿰阝夹 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
陕西省shǎn xī shěngShaanxi Province, capital Xi'an 西安市 (short name 陝|陕 or 秦)
陕西科技大学shǎn xī kē jì dà xuéShaanxi University of Science and Technology
陕西师范大学shǎn xī shī fàn dà xuéShaanxi Normal University
陕西大地震shǎn xī dà dì zhènthe great Shaanxi earthquake of 2nd February 1556 that killed 830,000 people
陕飞集团shǎn fēi jí tuánShaanxi Aircraft Corporation (state-owned enterprise)
陕州区shǎn zhōu qūShanzhou, a district of Sanmenxia City 三門峽市|三门峡市, Henan
陕西proper-nounshǎn xīsee 陝西省|陕西省
宁陕县níng shǎn xiànNingshan, a county in Ankang City 安康市, Shaanxi
陕南shǎn nánShannan, southern Shaanxi province
陕北proper-nounshǎn běiShanbei, northern Shaanxi province, including Yulin 榆林 and Yan'an 延安, a Holy Land of Mao's revolution 革命聖地|革命圣地
陕甘宁proper-nounshǎn gān níngShaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia provinces
陕州shǎn zhōusee 陝州區|陕州区
宁陕níng shǎnsee 寧陝縣|宁陕县
陕甘proper-nounshǎn gānShaanxi and Gansu provinces
14
Total compounds
86
As first character
7
As last character
7
As middle character

陕 appears in 14 compound words: 86 as the first character, 7 as the last, and 7 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 陕 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

西xī
0.44517 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

陕字在日常生活中使用频率较低。

Shǎn zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .

The character "Shaan" is not used very often in everyday life.

中国新闻网·文化Jul 2026

唐墓壁画是陕历博最具代表性的馆藏,但质地脆弱、保存环境要求极高,真品很难外出巡展。

táng mù bì huà shì Shǎn lì bó zuì jù dài biǎo xìng de guǎn zàng , dàn zhì dì cuì ruò , bǎo cún huán jìng yāo qiú jí gāo , zhēn pǐn hěn nán wài chū xún zhǎn .

The mural paintings from the Tang Dynasty tombs are the most representative part of the Shaanxi History Museum’s collection, but due to their fragile nature and the extremely stringent environmental requirements for their preservation, it is very difficult to take the originals on tour.

中国新闻网·文化Jul 2026

沪陕两地艺术家的交往互动,为此后双方共同推动中国画现代变革埋下伏笔。

hù Shǎn liǎng dì yì shù jiā de jiāo wǎng hù dòng , wéi cǐ hòu shuāng fāng gòng tóng tuī dòng zhōng guó huà xiàn dài biàn gé mái xià fú bǐ .

The exchanges and interactions between artists from Shanghai and Shaanxi laid the groundwork for their subsequent joint efforts to drive the modernization of Chinese painting.

中国新闻网·文化May 2026

其中,川陕苏区纪念馆全年开展教育活动6500场次,位居 全省前列。

qí zhōng , chuān Shǎn sū qū jì niàn guǎn quán nián kāi zhǎn jiào yù huó dòng 6 5 0 0 chǎng cì , wèi jū quán shěng qián liè .

Among them, the Sichuan-Shaanxi Soviet Area Memorial Hall held 6,500 educational events throughout the year, ranking among the top in the province.

中国新闻网·体育May 2026

斯诺克世锦赛冠军吴宜泽载誉抵陕 与古都球迷共赴“斯诺克之约”

sī nuò kè shì jǐn sài guàn jūn wú yí zé zài yù dǐ Shǎn yǔ gǔ dōu qiú mí gòng fù sī nuò kè zhī yuē

Snooker World Champion Wu Yize Arrives in Shaanxi Amid Acclaim to Keep His “Snooker Date” with Fans in the Ancient Capital

中国军网Feb 2026

军史文苑丨一九三六年陕北的春节

jūn shǐ wén 苑 丨 yī jiǔ sān liù nián Shǎn běi de chūn jié

Military History Corner | The Spring Festival in Northern Shaanxi in 1936

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 陕 (shǎn) mean in Chinese?
陕 (shǎn) primarily means "shaanxi (province in northwest china)." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #5393 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 陕 have?
陕 is written with 8 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 陕?
The radical associated with 陕 is 阝 (mound). This radical appears in many characters related to mound.
What are the components of 陕?
陕 is composed of: 阝 (structural), 夹 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰阝夹 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 陕?
Common words with 陕 include: 陕西省 (shǎn xī shěng, "Shaanxi Province, capital Xi'an 西安市 (short name 陝|陕 or 秦)"); 陕西科技大学 (shǎn xī kē jì dà xué, "Shaanxi University of Science and Technology"); 陕西师范大学 (shǎn xī shī fàn dà xué, "Shaanxi Normal University"); 陕西大地震 (shǎn xī dà dì zhèn, "the great Shaanxi earthquake of 2nd February 1556 that killed 830,000 people"); 陕飞集团 (shǎn fēi jí tuán, "Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation (state-owned enterprise)"). There are over 14 compound words containing this character.
Is 陕 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 陕 and the traditional form is 陝.

Practice writing 陕 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.