谭 (tán): surname Tan

谭 (tán) is a Chinese character meaning “surname tan.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 讠 (semantic) and 覃 (phonetic). It ranks #2794 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 谭 speech. Its radical form 讠 (speech) appears in many related characters such as 话 (huà, speech, words), 说 (shuō, to speak, to say), 请 (qǐng, please, to invite).

Spoken pronunciation
Radical: 讠 speech14 strokesFrequency #2794讠 semantic覃 phonetic

Definitions

  1. surname Tan

Etymology & Origin

谭

pictophoneticspeech

Decomposition: ⿰讠覃 (layout: left-right)

Components:讠semantic覃phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
天方夜谭phrasetiān fāng yè tánfantasy story
谭富英tán fù yīngTan Fuying (1906-1977), Beijing opera star, one of the Four great beards 四大鬚生|四大须生
谭震林tán zhèn línTan Zhenlin (1902-1983), PRC revolutionary and military leader, played political role after the Cultural Revolution
奇谭qí tánvariant of 奇談|奇谈
谭嗣同tán sì tóngTan Sitong (1865-1898), Qing writer and politician, one of the Six Gentlemen Martyrs 戊戌六君子 of the unsuccessful reform...
谭盾tán dùnTan Dun (1957-) Chinese composer
谭鑫培tán xīn péiTan Xinpei (1847-1917), noted opera actor
谭咏麟tán yǒng línAlan Tam (1950-), Hong Kong Canto-pop singer and actor
8
Total compounds
75
As first character
25
As last character
0
As middle character

谭 appears in 8 compound words: 75 as the first character, 25 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

天方夜谭tiānfāngyètán

cock-and-bull story; fantasy story; absurd idea; nonsense; One Thousand and One Nights (also called Arabian Nights)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个谭字在古汉语中有不同的含义。

zhè gè Tán zì zài gǔ hàn yǔ zhōng yǒu bù tóng de hán yì .

In Classical Chinese, the character "谭" has different meanings.

東方日報Feb 2026

谭凯琪超清纯家姐惊喜露面 曾为广告女神嫁“...

Tán kǎi 琪 chāo qīng chún jiā jiě jīng xǐ lù miàn céng wéi guǎng gào nǚ shén jià . . .

Tam Hoi-ki’s incredibly innocent older sister makes a surprise appearance; once known as an advertising goddess, she married “...

Hk01.comFeb 2026

法改会任命新成员 资深传媒人谭卫儿接替陈淑薇

fǎ gǎi huì rèn mìng xīn chéng yuán zī shēn chuán méi rén Tán wèi ér jiē tì chén 淑 薇

The Law Reform Commission Appoints New Member; Veteran Media Professional Tam Wai-yi Replaces Chan Shuk-mei

東方日報Feb 2026

刘颖镟谭旻萱米兰出招抢镜 谷爱凌转战时装骚获全场...

liú yǐng 镟 Tán 旻 萱 mǐ lán chū zhāo qiǎng jìng gǔ ài líng zhuǎn zhàn shí zhuāng sāo huò quán chǎng . . .

Liu Yingqun and Tan Minxuan Steal the Spotlight at Milan Fashion Week; Eileen Gu Makes a Splash at the Runway...

StheadlineFeb 2026

议政随想—谭镇国:《铁路立标提效 助力北都发展》

yì zhèng suí xiǎng — Tán zhèn guó : tiě lù lì biāo tí xiào zhù lì běi dōu fā zhǎn

Reflections on Public Affairs—Tan Zhenguo: "Setting Standards and Boosting Efficiency in the Railway Sector to Support the Development of Beidu"

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 讠 (speech) component

说shuō认rèn许xǔ计jì该gāi让ràng识shí请qǐng设shè议yì

Related Characters

话huà说shuō请qǐng认rèn识shí记jì讲jiǎng该gāi谢xiè试shì

Homophones — Characters pronounced tán

潭tán

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 谭 (tán) mean in Chinese?
谭 (tán) primarily means "surname tan." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #2794 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 谭 have?
谭 is written with 14 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 谭?
The radical associated with 谭 is 讠 (speech). This radical appears in many characters related to speech.
What are the components of 谭?
谭 is composed of: 讠 (semantic), 覃 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰讠覃 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 谭?
Common words with 谭 include: 天方夜谭 (tiān fāng yè tán, "fantasy story"); 谭富英 (tán fù yīng, "Tan Fuying (1906-1977), Beijing opera star, one of the Four great beards 四大鬚生|四大须生"); 谭震林 (tán zhèn lín, "Tan Zhenlin (1902-1983), PRC revolutionary and military leader, played political role after the Cultural Revolution"); 奇谭 (qí tán, "variant of 奇談|奇谈"); 谭嗣同 (tán sì tóng, "Tan Sitong (1865-1898), Qing writer and politician, one of the Six Gentlemen Martyrs 戊戌六君子 of the unsuccessful reform..."). There are over 8 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 谭 (tán)?
Several characters share the pronunciation tán: 潭 (deep pool). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 谭 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 谭 and the traditional form is 譚.

Practice writing 谭 with real-time feedback

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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.