蛋 (dàn) is a Chinese character meaning “egg”. It is written from 疋 (foot; also a variant of 匹 (bolt of cloth)) and 虫 (insect; bug; worm), one above the other, and takes 11 strokes.
Build the character for “egg”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
疋 + 虫
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: IDS ⿱疋虫 (cjkvi-ids, build-time only) + hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph stroke inspection (疋 = strokes 0–4, 虫 = strokes 5–10)
Memory aid
A foot (疋) steps carefully over a little creature (虫) curled up below — as fragile as an egg.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
11 strokes
In real words
- 鸡蛋jī dàn(chicken) egg蛋 = dàn
- 蛋壳dàn kéeggshell蛋 = dàn
- 笨蛋bèn dànfool; idiot (informal, can be rude)蛋 = dàn
- 捣蛋dǎo dànto act up; to be mischievous蛋 = dàn
Go deeper
All readings
egg
egg; an egg-shaped thing; (colloquial, in insults) person
鸟、龟、蛇等产的卵；也指形状像蛋的东西；口语中用于骂人的称呼。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 鸡蛋jī dàn(chicken) egg蛋 = dàn
- 蛋壳dàn kéeggshell蛋 = dàn
- 笨蛋bèn dànfool; idiot (informal, can be rude)蛋 = dàn
- 捣蛋dǎo dànto act up; to be mischievous蛋 = dàn
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 蛋 mean?
蛋 (dàn) means egg; an egg-shaped thing; (colloquial, in insults) person.
How do you pronounce 蛋?
It is pronounced dàn.
What parts is 蛋 made of?
疋 (foot; also a variant of 匹 (bolt of cloth)) and 虫 (insect; bug; worm), one above the other. The recorded source is: IDS ⿱疋虫 (cjkvi-ids, build-time only) + hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph stroke inspection (疋 = strokes 0–4, 虫 = strokes 5–10). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 蛋 have?
11. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 蛋?
虫. 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 蛋?
Common ones are 鸡蛋, 蛋壳, 笨蛋. The reading of 蛋 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.