佃 (diàn) is a Chinese character meaning “to rent land from a landlord and farm it”. It is written from 亻 (person (the form 人 takes on the left)) and 田 (field; farmland), side by side, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “to rent and farm land”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
亻 + 田
Left–right structure
Structure from: 现代字形拆分（hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：前 2 笔为左侧亻，后 5 笔为右侧田，2+5=7 画）；只描述今形，不追溯古字来源
Memory aid
A person (亻) standing at the edge of a field (田) — but the field is not theirs. They rent it and farm it: a tenant farmer.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 佃农diàn nóngtenant farmer佃 = diàn
- 佃户diàn hùtenant farming household佃 = diàn
Go deeper
All readings
to rent and farm land
to rent land from a landlord and farm it; used of tenant farming
租种别人的土地。多用于「佃农」「佃户」等词。 — studyhanzi 编写（现代常用义）
Words with this reading
- 佃农diàn nóngtenant farmer佃 = diàn
- 佃户diàn hùtenant farming household佃 = diàn
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 佃 mean?
佃 (diàn) means to rent land from a landlord and farm it; used of tenant farming.
How do you pronounce 佃?
It is pronounced diàn.
What parts is 佃 made of?
亻 (person (the form 人 takes on the left)) and 田 (field; farmland), side by side. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分（hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：前 2 笔为左侧亻，后 5 笔为右侧田，2+5=7 画）；只描述今形，不追溯古字来源. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 佃 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 佃?
亻. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 佃?
Common ones are 佃农 and 佃户. The reading of 佃 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.