染 (rǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “to dye”. It is written from 氵 (water (left-side form)) and 九 (nine) and 木 (tree; wood), one above the other, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “to dye”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
氵 + 九 + 木
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: modern-glyph decomposition (IDS ⿱⿰氵九木; 笔画数 3+2+4=9 与 hanzi-writer-data 的 9 笔一致，笔序为 氵1–3、九4–5、木6–9)
Memory aid
Water (氵) and nine (九) sitting on top of a tree (木): dip the cloth in the plant-dye water nine times and the color finally holds. All three parts really are in this character.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 污染wū rǎnpollution; to pollute染 = rǎn
- 染色rǎn sèto dye; to stain; dyeing染 = rǎn
Go deeper
All readings
to dye
to dye; to stain; to catch (an illness) or pick up (a habit); to contaminate
用染料使东西着色；也指沾上疾病、习惯或不好的东西。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 污染wū rǎnpollution; to pollute染 = rǎn
- 染色rǎn sèto dye; to stain; dyeing染 = rǎn
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 染 mean?
染 (rǎn) means to dye; to stain; to catch (an illness) or pick up (a habit); to contaminate.
How do you pronounce 染?
It is pronounced rǎn.
What parts is 染 made of?
氵 (water (left-side form)) and 九 (nine) and 木 (tree; wood), one above the other. The recorded source is: modern-glyph decomposition (IDS ⿱⿰氵九木; 笔画数 3+2+4=9 与 hanzi-writer-data 的 9 笔一致，笔序为 氵1–3、九4–5、木6–9). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 染 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 染?
木. 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 染?
Common ones are 污染 and 染色. The reading of 染 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.