潭 (tán): deep pool, pond, pit (dialect)

潭 (tán) is a Chinese character meaning “deep pool.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 覃 (phonetic). It ranks #2602 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 潭 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).

Spoken pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 氵 water15 strokesFrequency #2602氵 semantic 覃 phonetic

Definitions

deep pool
pond
pit (dialect)

Etymology & Origin

潭

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵覃 (layout: left-right)

Components:氵semantic 覃phonetic

Stroke Order

Practice writing 潭 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
泥潭noun	ní tán	quagmire
水潭noun	shuǐ tán	water pool
龙潭noun	lóng tán	see 龍潭區\|龙潭区
潭水	tán shuǐ	deep water
一潭死水phrase	yī tán sǐ shuǐ	a pool of stagnant water
日月潭proper-noun	rì yuè tán	Sun Moon Lake in Nantou County, Taiwan
龙马潭区	lóng mǎ tán qū	Longmatan, a district of Luzhou City 瀘州市\|泸州市, Sichuan
龙马潭	lóng mǎ tán	see 龍馬潭區\|龙马潭区
龙潭区	lóng tán qū	Longtan, a district of Jilin City 吉林市, Jilin
潭子	tán zi	deep natural pond
潭第	tán dì	variant of 覃第
平潭县	píng tán xiàn	Pingtan, a county in Fuzhou City 福州市, Fujian
气潭	qì tán	air pocket
平潭proper-noun	píng tán	see 平潭縣\|平潭县
潭影	tán yǐng	reflection in a deep pond

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

潭 appears in 34 compound words: 26 as the first character, 41 as the last, and 32 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 潭 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

溺nì

0.74622 co-occurrences

傅fù

0.63715 co-occurrences

莲lián

0.60015 co-occurrences

毙bì

0.59918 co-occurrences

鱼yú

0.59037 co-occurrences

纵zòng

0.59015 co-occurrences

鹰yīng

0.5241,070 co-occurrences

童tóng

0.52231 co-occurrences

艇tǐng

0.52010 co-occurrences

龙lóng

0.4903,856 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

龙潭虎穴lóng tán hǔ xuéHSK 7+

(lit.) dragon's pool and tiger's den (idiom); (fig.) dangerous place; hostile territory

phrase

一潭死水yītánsǐshuǐHSK 7+

a stagnant and spiritless situation

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

清晨的潭面波光粼粼，倒映着岸边的柳树。

qīng chén de tán miàn bō guāng 粼粼 , dǎo yìng zhe àn biān de liǔ shù .

The pond glistened in the early morning light, reflecting the willow trees along the shore.

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

狮潭新凤吊桥旁薰衣草全面盛开中

shī tán xīn fèng diào qiáo páng 薰 yī cǎo quán miàn shèng kāi zhōng

Lavender is in full bloom next to the Xinfeng Suspension Bridge in Shitan

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

花莲鲤鱼潭9岁男童溺毙纵管处:与地方政府共同强化...

huā lián lǐ yú tán 9 suì nán tóng nì bì zòng guǎn chǔ : yǔ dì fāng zhèng fǔ gòng tóng qiáng huà . . .

Hualien Liyutan 9-year-old boy drowned Longitudinal Management Office: Work with local governments to strengthen...

LtnFeb 2026

8岁男童命丧花莲鲤鱼潭!家属控快艇“船尾浪”酿祸交通部回应了

8 suì nán tóng mìng sāng huā lián lǐ yú tán ! jiā shǔ kòng kuài tǐng chuán wěi làng niàng huò jiāo tōng bù huí yīng le

An 8-year-old boy died in Hualien Liyu Pond! The family controlled the speedboat's "stern waves" to cause trouble, and the Ministry of Communications responded

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

纵管处启动鲤鱼潭水域安全全面检讨将与地方协力强化管理机...

zòng guǎn chǔ qǐ dòng lǐ yú tán shuǐ yù ān quán quán miàn jiǎn tǎo jiāng yǔ dì fāng xié lì qiáng huà guǎn lǐ jī . . .

The longitudinal management office launched a comprehensive review of the safety of Liyutan waters and will work with local governments to strengthen the management mechanism...

百度新闻Feb 2026

我爱湘潭我的家·新春走基层丨湖南裕能:600余名...

wǒ ài 湘 tán wǒ de jiā xīn chūn zǒu jī céng 丨 hú nán yù néng : 6 0 0 yú míng . . .

I love Xiangtan My home, New Year to the grassroots丨Hunan Yuneng: more than 600...

Tatoeba

日月潭是台湾最大的湖泊。

Rìyuè Tán shì Táiwān zuì dà de húpō.

Sun Moon Lake is the largest lake in Taiwan.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 潭 (tán) mean in Chinese?

潭 (tán) primarily means "deep pool." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2602 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 潭 and 浅?

潭 (tán) and 浅 (qiǎn) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 潭 (deep) vs 浅 (shallow).

How many strokes does 潭 have?

潭 is written with 15 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 潭?

The radical associated with 潭 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.

What are the components of 潭?

潭 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 覃 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵覃 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 潭?

Common words with 潭 include: 泥潭 (ní tán, "quagmire"); 水潭 (shuǐ tán, "water pool"); 龙潭 (lóng tán, "see 龍潭區|龙潭区"); 潭水 (tán shuǐ, "deep water"); 一潭死水 (yī tán sǐ shuǐ, "a pool of stagnant water"). There are over 34 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 潭 (tán)?

Several characters share the pronunciation tán: 谭 (surname Tan), 谈 (to talk, to discuss), 探 (to explore), 坦 (flat, candid), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 潭 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 潭 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 潭 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

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