栈 (zhàn) is a Chinese character meaning “an inn or roadside lodging”. It is written from 木 (tree; wood) and 戋 (tiny, small amount; the sound part of 浅, 钱, 线), side by side, and takes 9 strokes.
Build the character for “inn; plank road”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
木 + 戋
Left–right structure
Structure from: 现代字形拆分，以 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：9 画 = 木 4 画 + 戋 5 画；部首取康熙 75 木部；声符判断只依据实测现代读音（戋 jiān / 栈 zhàn，声母 j/zh、韵母 ian/an、声调均不同）
Memory aid
Planks of wood (木) cut into small, slender pieces (戋) and pegged along a cliff — the plank road, and the roadside inn it leads to.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
9 strokes
In real words
- 客栈kè zhàninn; guesthouse栈 = zhàn
- 栈道zhàn dàoplank road built along a cliff face栈 = zhàn
Go deeper
All readings
inn; plank road; storehouse
an inn or roadside lodging; a plank walkway built out from a cliff; a shed or storehouse (also the "stack" in computing)
旅客住宿的地方；在山崖上用木板架成的道路；也指存放货物的棚子。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 客栈kè zhàninn; guesthouse栈 = zhàn
- 栈道zhàn dàoplank road built along a cliff face栈 = zhàn
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 栈 mean?
栈 (zhàn) means an inn or roadside lodging; a plank walkway built out from a cliff; a shed or storehouse (also the "stack" in computing).
How do you pronounce 栈?
It is pronounced zhàn.
What parts is 栈 made of?
木 (tree; wood) and 戋 (tiny, small amount; the sound part of 浅, 钱, 线), side by side. The recorded source is: 现代字形拆分，以 hanzi-writer-data 笔画核验：9 画 = 木 4 画 + 戋 5 画；部首取康熙 75 木部；声符判断只依据实测现代读音（戋 jiān / 栈 zhàn，声母 j/zh、韵母 ian/an、声调均不同）. Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 栈 have?
9. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 栈?
木. 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 栈?
Common ones are 客栈 and 栈道. The reading of 栈 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.