坛 (tán): altar, forum

坛 (tán) is a Chinese character meaning “altar, forum.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 土 (semantic) and 云 (phonetic). It ranks #1789 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 坛 earth. Its radical form 土 (earth) appears in many related characters such as 在 (zài, to exist), 地 (dì, earth, ground), 场 (chǎng, field, place).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. altar, forum

Etymology & Origin

坛

pictophoneticearth

Decomposition: ⿰土云 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 坛

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
论坛nounlùn tánforum (for discussion)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
祭坛nounjì tánaltar
政坛nounzhèng tánpolitical circles
坛子nountán zijug (earthenware with a big belly and a small opening)
乐坛nounyuè tánmusic circles
歌坛noungē tánsinging stage
花坛nounhuā tándecorative mass planting of flowers and shrubs, often bounded by a low masonry border, and often part of a streetscape
影坛nounyǐng tánmoviedom
体坛nountǐ tánsporting circles
文坛nounwén tánliterary circles
讲坛nounjiǎng tána platform (to speak)
天坛proper-nountiān tánTemple of Heaven (in Beijing)
艺坛nounyì tánart circles
画坛nounhuà tánpainting world
世界经济论坛shì jiè jīng jì lùn tánWorld Economic Forum
国际先驱论坛报guó jì xiān qū lùn tán bàoInternational Herald Tribune
36
Total compounds
3
As first character
81
As last character
17
As middle character

坛 appears in 36 compound words: 3 as the first character, 81 as the last, and 17 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 坛 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

论lùn
0.63112,725 co-occurrences
祭jì
0.5533,642 co-occurrences
崭zhǎn
0.469104 co-occurrences
讲jiǎng
0.432860 co-occurrences
画huà
0.4031,114 co-occurrences
庙miào
0.391448 co-occurrences
乐lè
0.3871,494 co-occurrences
诚chéng
0.36910 co-occurrences
乒pīng
0.368100 co-occurrences
村cūn
0.36216 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个论坛聚集了很多行业专家,讨论非常有价值。

Zhè gè lùntán jùjí le hěn duō hángyè zhuānjiā, tǎolùn fēicháng yǒu jiàzhí.

This forum gathers many industry experts; the discussions are very valuable.

中国军网Feb 2026

长城论坛丨坚持实践观点群众观点历史观点

cháng chéng lùn tán 丨 jiān chí shí jiàn guàn diǎn qún zhòng guàn diǎn lì shǐ guàn diǎn

Great Wall Forum丨Adhere to practical views, mass views, historical views

中国军网Feb 2026

强军论坛丨把民主生活会开出高质量新气象

qiáng jūn lùn tán 丨 bǎ mín zhǔ shēng huó huì kāi chū gāo zhì liàng xīn qì xiàng

Strong Army Forum丨Open a high-quality new atmosphere for democratic life

中時新聞網Feb 2026

全国唯一官帽土地公!花坛白沙坑“百年迎灯排”3/1 登场

quán guó wéi yī guān mào tǔ dì gōng ! huā tán bái shā kēng bǎi nián yíng dēng pái 3 1 dēng chǎng

The only official hat land public in the country! The "Centennial Lantern Row" in the flower bed white sandpit appeared on 3/1

中国军网Feb 2026

军事论坛丨以简驭繁:用简单规则“智”胜未来

jūn shì lùn tán 丨 yǐ jiǎn yù fán yòng jiǎn dān guī zé zhì shèng wèi lái

Military Forum丨Simplicity Over Complexity: Using Simple Rules to Outwit the Future

中時新聞網Feb 2026

国战会论坛》从自卫权到制天权 中日低轨卫星叫阵(蔡...

guó zhàn huì lùn tán cóng zì wèi quán dào zhì tiān quán zhōng rì dī guǐ wèi xīng jiào zhèn ( 蔡 . . .

National War Conference Forum" From the right of self-defense to the right to control the sky, China-Japan low-orbit satellites are called arrays (Cai...

Tatoeba

穿过花园时,请勿践踏花坛。

Chuānguò huāyuán shí, qǐng wù jiàntà huātán.

Please don’t stomp on the flower beds when you walk through the garden.

Tatoeba

京都以它的祭坛和寺院而闻名。

Jīngdū yǐ tā de jìtán hé sìyuàn ér wénmíng.

Kyoto is famous for its shrines and temples.

Tatoeba

我在这些论坛上没有帐号。

Wǒ zài zhèxiē lùntán shàng méiyǒu zhànghào.

I do not have an account in these forums.

Tatoeba

杂草完全占据了花坛。

Zácǎo wánquán zhànjù le huātán.

The weeds have completely overtaken the garden bed.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 土 (earth) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced tán

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 坛 (tán) mean in Chinese?
坛 (tán) primarily means "altar, forum." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1789 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 坛 and 运?
坛 (tán) and 运 (yùn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 土 vs 辶 (same 云 component).
How many strokes does 坛 have?
坛 is written with 7 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 坛?
The radical associated with 坛 is 土 (earth). This radical appears in many characters related to earth.
What are the components of 坛?
坛 is composed of: 土 (semantic), 云 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰土云 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 坛?
Common words with 坛 include: 论坛 (lùn tán, "forum (for discussion)"); 祭坛 (jì tán, "altar"); 政坛 (zhèng tán, "political circles"); 坛子 (tán zi, "jug (earthenware with a big belly and a small opening)"); 乐坛 (yuè tán, "music circles"). There are over 36 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 坛 (tán)?
Several characters share the pronunciation tán: 谈 (to talk, to discuss), 探 (to explore), 坦 (flat, candid), 叹 (to sigh), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 坛 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 坛 and the traditional form is 壇.

Practice writing 坛 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.