岸 (àn) is a Chinese character meaning “shore”. It is written from 山 (mountain) and 厂 (factory; cliff radical) and 干 (dry), one above the other, and takes 8 strokes.
Build the character for “shore; bank of a river or sea”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
山 + 厂 + 干
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: 现代字形拆分（hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：0-2 山 / 3-4 厂 / 5-7 干）；声符依据《说文解字》「岸，水厓而高者。从屵，干聲」
Memory aid
A mountain (山) rides on top of a cliff face (厂), and a dry pole (干) stands under the overhang — high dry ground where the water has to stop. That edge is the shore.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
8 strokes
In real words
- 海岸hǎi àncoast; seashore岸 = àn
- 河岸hé ànriverbank岸 = àn
- 彼岸bǐ ànthe other shore; the far bank岸 = àn
Go deeper
All readings
shore; bank
shore; bank; coast — the land at the edge of a river, lake or sea
水边的陆地；江、河、湖、海等水域的边缘。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 海岸hǎi àncoast; seashore岸 = àn
- 河岸hé ànriverbank岸 = àn
- 彼岸bǐ ànthe other shore; the far bank岸 = àn
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 岸 mean?
岸 (àn) means shore; bank; coast — the land at the edge of a river, lake or sea.
How do you pronounce 岸?
It is pronounced àn.
What parts is 岸 made of?
山 (mountain) and 厂 (factory; cliff radical) and 干 (dry), one above the other. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分（hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：0-2 山 / 3-4 厂 / 5-7 干）；声符依据《说文解字》「岸，水厓而高者。从屵，干聲」. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 岸 have?
8. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 岸?
山. 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 岸?
Common ones are 海岸 and 河岸. The reading of 岸 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.