丹 (dān) is a Chinese character meaning “cinnabar”. It is written from ㇒ (left-falling stroke) and ㇆ (horizontal-turning hook stroke) and ㇔ (dot stroke) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke), and takes 4 strokes.
Build the character for “cinnabar; vermilion red”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
㇒ + ㇆ + ㇔ + ㇐
Overlapping structure
- ㇒ left-falling stroke unknown
- ㇆ horizontal-turning hook stroke unknown
- ㇔ dot stroke unknown
- ㇐ horizontal stroke unknown
Structure from: Unicode U+4E39; 纯笔画拆分，已逐笔对照 hanzi-writer-data 的四笔笔画几何核验
Memory aid
A slanting stroke ㇒ and a turning hook ㇆ close up a small pit; one dot ㇔ of red powder rests inside it, and the long line ㇐ is the seam of ore running straight through — that is where cinnabar comes from.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
4 strokes
In real words
- 丹田dān tiándantian, the energy centre below the navel丹 = dān
- 丹青dān qīngtraditional Chinese painting; the art of painting丹 = dān
- 牡丹mǔ dānpeony丹 = dān
Go deeper
All readings
cinnabar; red
cinnabar; vermilion red; a prepared pellet or elixir in traditional Chinese medicine
朱砂；朱红色。也指中药里炼制成的丸散类药剂。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 丹田dān tiándantian, the energy centre below the navel丹 = dān
- 丹青dān qīngtraditional Chinese painting; the art of painting丹 = dān
- 牡丹mǔ dānpeony丹 = dān
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 丹 mean?
丹 (dān) means cinnabar; vermilion red; a prepared pellet or elixir in traditional Chinese medicine.
How do you pronounce 丹?
It is pronounced dān.
What parts is 丹 made of?
㇒ (left-falling stroke) and ㇆ (horizontal-turning hook stroke) and ㇔ (dot stroke) and ㇐ (horizontal stroke). The recorded source is: Unicode U+4E39; 纯笔画拆分，已逐笔对照 hanzi-writer-data 的四笔笔画几何核验. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 丹 have?
4. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 丹?
丶. 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 丹?
Common ones are 丹田 and 丹青. The reading of 丹 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.