坦 (tǎn): flat, candid
坦 (tǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “flat, candid.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 土 (semantic) and 旦 (phonetic). It ranks #1016 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 坦 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).
Definitions
- flat, candid
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 坦 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 坦白adjective | tǎn bái | honest |
| 坦克noun | tǎn kè | (loanword) tank (military vehicle) |
| 坦诚adjective | tǎn chéng | candid |
| 巴基斯坦proper-noun | bā jī sī tǎn | Pakistan |
| 爱因斯坦proper-noun | ài yīn sī tǎn | Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-born theoretical physicist |
| 斯坦福proper-noun | sī tǎn fú | Stanford or Stamford (name of various people, places and organizations, notably Stanford University) |
| 坦率adjective | tǎn shuài | frank |
| 斯坦利proper-noun | sī tǎn lì | Stanley (name) |
| 哈萨克斯坦proper-noun | hā sà kè sī tǎn | Kazakhstan |
| 泰坦尼克号 | tài tǎn ní kè hào | RMS Titanic, British passenger liner that sank in 1912 |
| 坦然adjective | tǎn rán | calm |
| 巴勒斯坦proper-noun | bā lè sī tǎn | Palestine |
| 舒坦adjective | shū tan | comfortable |
| 伊斯坦布尔proper-noun | yī sī tǎn bù ěr | Istanbul, Turkey |
| 平坦adjective | píng tǎn | level |
坦 appears in 82 compound words: 23 as the first character, 35 as the last, and 41 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 坦 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (13)
Showing 11 of 13 idioms containing 坦.
Example Sentences
他坦率地承认了自己的错误，并表示会尽快改正。
Tā tǎnshuài de chéngrèn le zìjǐ de cuòwù, bìng biǎoshì huì jǐnkuài gǎizhèng.
He candidly admitted his mistakes and expressed that he would correct them as soon as possible.
英国前驻美大使曼德尔森因涉爱泼斯坦丑闻被捕
yīng guó qián zhù měi dà shǐ 曼 dé ěr sēn yīn shè ài pō sī tǎn chǒu wén bèi bǔ
Former British ambassador to the United States Mandelson was arrested in connection with the Epstein scandal
巴基斯坦空袭阿富汗境内 阿国防部:将作出适当回应
bā jī sī tǎn kōng xí ā fù hàn jìng nèi ā guó fáng bù : jiāng zuò chū shì dāng huí yīng
Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan Afghan Ministry of Defense: Appropriate response will be made
...干线遇孩童狂踢椅背 近7成日本人选择忍?坦言是怕“他们”
. . . gān xiàn yù hái tóng kuáng tī yǐ bèi jìn 7 chéng rì běn rén xuǎn zé rěn ? tǎn yán shì pà tā men
... Nearly 70% of Japanese people choose to endure when children kick the back of the chair on the trunk line? Frankly said that he was afraid of "them"
洛杉矶奥组委主席涉爱泼斯坦案,市长呼吁其辞职
洛 杉 矶 ào zǔ wěi zhǔ xí shè ài pō sī tǎn àn , shì cháng hū xū qí cí zhí
Mayor calls for resignation of L.A. Olympic chairman in Epstein case.
吉尔吉斯斯坦的情况十分混乱。
Jí'ěrjísīsītǎn de qíngkuàng shífēn hùnluàn.
The situation in Kyrgyzstan is a real mess.
我住在伊斯坦布尔的欧洲一侧。
Wǒ zhù zài Yīsītǎnbù'ěr de ōuzhōu yī cè.
I live in the European side of Istanbul.
在座各位有人听过诺曼芬克尔斯坦吗？
Zàizuò gèwèi yǒurén tīng guo nuò màn fēn kè ěr sī tǎn ma?
Has anyone here in the classroom heard about Norman Finkelstein?
爱因斯坦预测太阳的引力会弯曲光线。
àiyīnsītǎn yùcè tàiyang de yǐnlì huì wānqū guāngxiàn.
Einstein predicted that the Sun's gravity would bend light.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 土 (earth) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 坦 (tǎn) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 坦 and 但?
How many strokes does 坦 have?
What is the radical of 坦?
What are the components of 坦?
What are common words containing 坦?
What characters sound the same as 坦 (tǎn)?
Is 坦 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 坦 with real-time feedback
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