三 (sān) is a Chinese character meaning “three”. It takes 3 strokes.
Learn this character
Structure
三
Single unit
- 三 three · sān unknown
Structure from: Unicode U+4E09 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection
Memory aid
Three horizontal strokes make the number three (三).
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
3 strokes
In real words
- 三月sān yuèMarch三 = sān
Go deeper
All readings
three
three; the number 3
数目三，二加一所得。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 三月sān yuèMarch三 = sān
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 三 mean?
三 (sān) means three; the number 3.
How do you pronounce 三?
It is pronounced sān.
How many strokes does 三 have?
3. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 三?
一. 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 三?
Common ones are 三月. The reading of 三 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.