砍 (kǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “to chop”. It is written from 石 (stone; rock) and 欠 (to yawn; to owe; to lack), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “to chop”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
石 + 欠
Left–right structure
Structure from: IDS 拆分（Unicode 现代字形，已对照 hanzi-writer 笔画核验）
Memory aid
A stone (石) axe-head on the left, and 欠 on the right — a figure leaning back, mouth open, swinging with everything they've got. Stone plus that heaving motion: to chop.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 砍伐kǎn fáto fell trees; to cut down (timber); logging砍 = kǎn
- 砍价kǎn jiàto bargain; to haggle the price down砍 = kǎn
Go deeper
All readings
to chop
to chop; to hack; to cut down (with an axe or knife)
用刀斧等猛力把东西劈开或弄断。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 砍伐kǎn fáto fell trees; to cut down (timber); logging砍 = kǎn
- 砍价kǎn jiàto bargain; to haggle the price down砍 = kǎn
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 砍 mean?
砍 (kǎn) means to chop; to hack; to cut down (with an axe or knife).
How do you pronounce 砍?
It is pronounced kǎn.
What parts is 砍 made of?
石 (stone; rock) and 欠 (to yawn; to owe; to lack), side by side. The recorded source is: IDS 拆分（Unicode 现代字形，已对照 hanzi-writer 笔画核验）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 砍 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 砍?
石. 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 砍?
Common ones are 砍伐 and 砍价. The reading of 砍 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.