(tàn): carbon (chemistry)

(tàn) is a Chinese character meaning “carbon (chemistry).” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2594 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, mineral. Its radical form (stone) appears in many related characters such as (què, certain, true), (wǎn, bowl), (pèng, to touch, to bump).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. carbon (chemistry)

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticmineral

Decomposition: ⿰石炭 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

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

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounèr yǎng huà tàncarbon dioxide CO26
adjectivedī tàn(attributive) low-carbon6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
yī yǎng huà tàncarbon monoxide CO
tàn suāncarbonic acid
tàn suān gàicalcium carbonate
jù tàn suān zhǐpolycarbonate
tàn suān nàsoda
tàn huà wùcarbide
tàn suān yáncarbonate salt (chemistry)
tàn huà guīsilicon carbide
tàn shuǐ huà hé wùcarbohydrate
wú dìng xíng tànamorphous carbon
tàn zhōng hécarbon neutrality
tàn yuán zǐcarbon atom
tàn qīng huà hé wùhydrocarbon
èr yǎng huà tàn gé lícarbon sequestration
tàn xìng diàn chícarbon-zinc battery
56
Total compounds
57
As first character
27
As last character
16
As middle character

appears in 56 compound words: 57 as the first character, 27 as the last, and 16 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

yǎng
0.70839,790 co-occurrences
suān
0.60422,885 co-occurrences
huà
0.53555,632 co-occurrences
gài
0.5141,254 co-occurrences
jiàn
0.4974,062 co-occurrences
qiàn
0.4721,452 co-occurrences
shèn
0.464834 co-occurrences
yán
0.4582,832 co-occurrences
èr
0.45134,404 co-occurrences
méi
0.4322,064 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

èryǎnghuàtànHSK 6+

carbon dioxide

noun
yīyǎnghuàtànHSK 6+

carbon monoxide

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字在日常生活中使用频率较低。

tàn zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .

The character "carbon" is not frequently used in daily life.

Investing 香港Feb 2026

光大证券:排放双控转型推动成本重估 看好绿电的非...

guāng dà zhèng quàn : tàn pái fàng shuāng kòng zhuǎn xíng tuī dòng tàn chéng běn chóng gū kàn hǎo lǜ diàn de fēi . . .

Everbright Securities: Carbon emission dual control transformation promotes carbon cost revaluation Optimistic about the non-...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

日本是水大国为何日人吃不胖? 网揭与台湾4大生...

rì běn shì tàn shuǐ dà guó wéi hé rì rén chī bù pàng ? wǎng jiē yǔ tái wān 4 dà shēng . . .

Japan is a big carbohydrate country, why can't Japanese people eat fat? The network revealed that it was with Taiwan's 4 college students...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

商周“竞争力100强” 信义房屋制度化减连三...

shāng zhōu tàn jìng zhēng lì 1 0 0 qiáng xìn yì fáng wū zhì dù huà jiǎn tàn lián sān . . .

Business Week's "Top 100 Carbon Competitiveness" Xinyi Housing Institutionalized Carbon Reduction for the Third Consecutive Time...

99 健康网Feb 2026

低糖食品推荐大全包括什么?每日水控制在多少合适

dī táng shí pǐn tuī jiàn dà quán bāo kuò shén má ? měi rì tàn shuǐ kòng zhì zài duō shǎo gě shì

What does the recommended low-sugar food include? How much is the appropriate amount of carbohydrates per day

99 健康网Feb 2026

食物糖份怎么看?营养成分表中“糖”和“水”要分开看吗

shí wù táng fèn zěn má kàn ? yíng yǎng chéng fēn biǎo zhōng táng hé tàn shuǐ yāo fēn kāi kàn ma

What do you think about food sugar? Should "sugar" and "carbohydrates" be separated in the nutritional facts table?

Tatoeba

树木排出氧气,吸收二氧化

Shùmù páichū yǎngqì, xīshōu èryǎnghuàtàn.

Trees give off oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide.

Tatoeba

麦根沙士被视为一种经典的美式酸饮品。

Mài gēn shāshì bèi shìwéi yīzhǒng jīngdiǎn de Měishì tànsuān yǐnpǐn.

Root beer is considered a classic American carbonated soft drink.

Tatoeba

汤姆告诉我他不喜欢酸饮料。

Tāngmǔ gàosu wǒ tā bù xǐhuan tànsuān yǐnliào.

Tom told me he doesn't like carbonated drinks.

Tatoeba

你对复合水化合物有什么了解吗?

Nǐ duì fùhé tàn shuǐ huàhé wù yǒu shénme liǎojiě ma?

Do you know anything about complex carbohydrates?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced tàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 碳 (tàn) mean in Chinese?
碳 (tàn) primarily means "carbon (chemistry)." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2594 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 碳 have?
碳 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 碳?
The radical associated with 碳 is 石 (stone). This radical appears in many characters related to stone.
What are the components of 碳?
碳 is composed of: 石 (semantic), 炭 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰石炭 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 碳?
Common words with 碳 include: 二氧化碳 (èr yǎng huà tàn, "carbon dioxide CO2"); 一氧化碳 (yī yǎng huà tàn, "carbon monoxide CO"); 低碳 (dī tàn, "(attributive) low-carbon"); 碳酸 (tàn suān, "carbonic acid"); 碳酸钙 (tàn suān gài, "calcium carbonate"). There are over 56 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 碳 (tàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation tàn: 贪 (greedy), 摊 (to spread out), 滩 (beach), 瘫 (paralyzed), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 碳 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 碳 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.