坦 (tǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “level”. It is written from 土 (earth; soil) and 旦 (daybreak; dawn (the sun 日 above the horizon line 一)), side by side, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “flat, open ground”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
土 + 旦
Left–right structure
Structure from: 说文解字·土部：坦，安也。从土旦聲
Memory aid
Earth (土) with daybreak (旦) beside it: as the sun rises over the horizon line you can see the ground stretching out flat and open in every direction.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 平坦píng tǎnflat; level; even (of ground or a road)坦 = tǎn
- 坦白tǎn báifrank; candid; to confess openly坦 = tǎn
Go deeper
All readings
flat; open; candid
level; flat; open and even; (of a person) frank, candid, composed
地面平整没有起伏；也指心里没有隐瞒，直率坦然。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 平坦píng tǎnflat; level; even (of ground or a road)坦 = tǎn
- 坦白tǎn báifrank; candid; to confess openly坦 = tǎn
Origin
The Shuowen Jiezi analyses 坦 as "from 土 (earth), with 旦 giving the sound". The earth radical 土 carries the meaning — ground that is settled and even — while 旦 (dàn) supplies the reading. Today 旦 dàn and 坦 tǎn share the -an rime but the initial has shifted from d- to t-.
Source: 说文解字·土部：坦，安也。从土旦聲
Sound component
旦 family onset shift
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 坦 mean?
坦 (tǎn) means level; flat; open and even; (of a person) frank, candid, composed.
How do you pronounce 坦?
It is pronounced tǎn.
What parts is 坦 made of?
土 (earth; soil) and 旦 (daybreak; dawn (the sun 日 above the horizon line 一)), side by side. The recorded source is: 说文解字·土部：坦，安也。从土旦聲. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 坦 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 坦?
土. 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 坦?
Common ones are 平坦 and 坦白. The reading of 坦 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.