探 (tàn): to explore, to search out, to scout
探 (tàn) is a Chinese character meaning “to explore.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 木 (structural). It ranks #917 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 探 hand. Its radical form 扌 (hand) appears in many related characters such as 手 (shǒu, hand), 打 (dǎ, hit, make), 找 (zhǎo, to look for).
Definitions
- to explore
- to search out
- to scout
Etymology & Origin
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Stroke Order
Practice writing 探 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 探
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 侦探noun | zhēn tàn | detective |
| 探长 | tàn zhǎng | (police) detective |
| 探险verb | tàn xiǎn | to explore |
| 探戈noun | tàn gē | tango (dance) (loanword) |
| 探望verb | tàn wàng | to visit |
| 探测器noun | tàn cè qì | detector |
| 探测verb | tàn cè | to probe |
| 密探noun | mì tàn | secret agent |
| 探访verb | tàn fǎng | to seek by inquiry or search |
| 探视verb | tàn shì | to visit (a patient, prisoner etc) |
| 试探verb | shì tàn | to sound out |
| 打探verb | dǎ tàn | to make discreet inquiries |
| 窥探verb | kuī tàn | to pry into or spy on |
| 探究verb | tàn jiū | to investigate |
| 探险家 | tàn xiǎn jiā | explorer |
探 appears in 94 compound words: 70 as the first character, 18 as the last, and 12 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 探 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (5)
Showing 4 of 5 idioms containing 探.
Example Sentences
探险队深入丛林，寻找失落的文明遗迹。
Tànxiǎn duì shēnrù cónglín, xúnzhǎo shīluò de wénmíng yíjì.
The expedition team went deep into the jungle to search for lost civilization ruins.
德国总理默茨即日起访华两天 表示期待探讨进一步拓展两国合作
dé guó zǒng lǐ mò 茨 jí rì qǐ fǎng huá liǎng tiān biǎo shì qī dài tàn tǎo jìn yī bù tuò zhǎn liǎng guó gě zuò
German Chancellor Merz visited China for two days from now and expressed his expectation to explore further expansion of cooperation between the two countries
...oscall揭内幕:年逾800万通为诈骗探路
. . . o s c a l l jiē nèi mù : nián yú 8 0 0 wàn tōng wéi zhà piàn tàn lù
... oscall reveals the inside story: more than 8 million calls a year to explore the way of fraud
探索大脑,从“头”认识你自己,从“头”理解...
tàn suǒ dà nǎo , cóng tóu rèn shí nǐ zì jǐ , cóng tóu lǐ jiě . . .
Explore the brain, know yourself from the "head", understand from the "head"...
...抢先看/始源8字贴文挺尹锡悦掀论战、逸祥探望山猪父母惹泪
. . . qiǎng xiān kàn shǐ yuán 8 zì tiē wén tǐng 尹 xī yuè xiān lùn zhàn , yì xiáng tàn wàng shān zhū fù mǔ rě lèi
... Sneak peek/Siyuan 8-word post Ting Yin Xiyue set off a debate, Yixiang visited the parents of the wild boar and made tears
(新春见闻)探访阿波迪科技小院:中国春节“撞上”巴..
xīn chūn jiàn wén tàn fǎng ā bō dí kē jì xiǎo yuàn zhōng guó chūn jié zhuàng shǎng bā . .
(Chinese New Year Observations)A visit to Abodi Science and Technology Center: Chinese New Year "collides" with Ba...
父亲常常在空闲时间读侦探小说。
Fùqin chángcháng zài kòngxián shíjiān dú zhēntàn xiǎoshuō.
Father would often read detective stories in his spare time.
两个侦探跟着嫌疑人。
Liǎng gè zhēntàn gēnzhe xiányírén.
Two detectives followed the suspect.
他们出发去南极探险。
Tāmen chūfā qù nánjí tànxiǎn.
They went on an expedition to the Antarctic.
我已经很久没有探望过祖母了。
Wǒ yǐjīng hěn jiǔ méiyǒu tànwàng guo zǔmǔ le.
It's been a long time since I visited my grandmother.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 探 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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