(tiān): to add, to increase, to replenish

(tiān) is a Chinese character meaning “to add.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1840 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to add
  2. to increase
  3. to replenish

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵忝 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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
verbtiān jiāto add6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
tiān má fanto cause trouble for sb
tiān luàn(coll.) to cause trouble for sb
zēng tiānto add
jǐn shàng tiān huālit. add flowers to brocade (idiom)
tiān jiā jìadditive
tiān yóu jiā cùlit. to add oil and vinegar (idiom)
huà shé tiān zúlit. draw legs on a snake (idiom)
tiān zhìto buy
rú hǔ tiān yìlit. like a tiger that has grown wings
píng tiānto add or gain sth without additional effort
tiān jiā wùadditive
tiān buto fill (up)
tiān dīngto add a son to the family
èr yī tiān zuò wǔlit. one half equals zero point five (division rule in abacus reckoning)
jiā tiānto add
21
Total compounds
62
As first character
14
As last character
24
As middle character

appears in 21 compound words: 62 as the first character, 14 as the last, and 24 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.

jiā
0.56787,906 co-occurrences
0.5014,764 co-occurrences
zēng
0.49521,180 co-occurrences
0.444672 co-occurrences
chí
0.4204,290 co-occurrences
0.39611 co-occurrences
0.391348 co-occurrences
0.3852,304 co-occurrences
dīng
0.3754,266 co-occurrences
le
0.36726,082 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

huàshétiānzúHSK 6+

to improve something unnecessarily; to gild the lily

phrase
jiā yóu tiān cùHSK 6+

to add interest (to a story); to sex up

phrase
jǐnshàngtiānhuāHSK 7+

to make perfection still more perfect

phrase
rúhǔtiānyìHSK 7+

making someone even stronger

phrase
寿tiānfútiānshòuHSK 6+

increase one's luck and lengthen one's life

phrase
tiānyóujiācùHSK 6+

to add color and emphasis to (a narration); to exaggerate

phrase
tiānzhuānjiāwǎHSK 7+

to contribute meagerly to a cause; to do one's bit

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

清晨的面波光粼粼,倒映着岸边的柳树。

qīng chén de tiān miàn bō guāng 粼 粼 , dǎo yìng zhe àn biān de liǔ shù .

The early morning river glistened with ripples, reflecting the willow trees along the shore.

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...场法兰基迪庄受伤 将缺阵逾月 为欧联赛事

. . . chǎng fǎ lán jī dí zhuāng shòu shāng jiāng quē zhèn yú yuè wéi ōu lián sài shì tiān yōu

... Frankie Di Zhuang is injured and will be out for more than a month, adding to the worries of the Europa League

中時新聞網Feb 2026

...友叶仲亮、叶玉霞之女叶景睿捐千万 东海再第六间AI PC教室

. . . yǒu xié zhòng liàng , xié yù xiá zhī nǚ xié jǐng 睿 juān qiān wàn dōng hǎi zài tiān dì liù jiān A I P C jiào shì

... Ye Jingrui, the daughter of friends Ye Zhongliang and Ye Yuxia, donated tens of millions to add a sixth AI PC classroom to Donghai

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...撤销初选资格 陈怡君:往前冲 绿营忧选情

. . . chè xiāo chū xuǎn zī gé chén yí jūn : wǎng qián chōng lǜ yíng yōu xuǎn qíng tiān biàn

... Revoke the qualification of the primary election Chen Yijun: Rush forward The green camp is worried about the election situation

InvestingFeb 2026

...5年第四季度业绩:创纪录利润率为百年庆典

. . . 5 nián dì sì jì dù yè jì : chuàng jì lù lì rùn lǜ wéi bǎi nián qìng diǎn tiān cǎi

... Q4 5 results: Record margins add to the centennial celebration

99 健康网Feb 2026

无糖食物有哪些?天然未加工食材多数不含加糖吗

wú táng shí wù yǒu nǎ xiē ? tiān rán wèi jiā gōng shí cái duō shǔ bù hán tiān jiā táng ma

What are sugar-free foods? Are most natural, unprocessed ingredients free of added sugar?

Tatoeba

我们家快要丁了。

Wǒmen jiā kuàiyào tiāndīng le.

We are expecting an addition to our family.

Tatoeba

他们几乎不给我们麻烦。

Tāmen jīhūbù gěi wǒmen tiānmáfan.

They gave us very little trouble.

Tatoeba

再往火里些木柴。

Zài wǎng huǒ lǐ tiān xiē mùchái.

Put some more wood on the fire.

Tatoeba

我很抱歉给你麻烦了。

Wǒ hěn bàoqiàn gěi nǐ tiānmáfan le.

I'm sorry to trouble you.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced tiān

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 添 (tiān) mean in Chinese?
添 (tiān) primarily means "to add." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1840 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 添 and 减?
添 (tiān) and 减 (jiǎn) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 添 (increase) vs 减 (decrease).
How many strokes does 添 have?
添 is written with 11 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 添?
The radical associated with 添 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 添?
添 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 忝 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵忝 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 添?
Common words with 添 include: 添麻烦 (tiān má fan, "to cause trouble for sb"); 添加 (tiān jiā, "to add"); 添乱 (tiān luàn, "(coll.) to cause trouble for sb"); 增添 (zēng tiān, "to add"); 锦上添花 (jǐn shàng tiān huā, "lit. add flowers to brocade (idiom)"). There are over 21 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 添 (tiān)?
Several characters share the pronunciation tiān: 舔 (to lick), 天 (day), 田 (field), 甜 (sweet), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 添 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 添 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.