添 (tiān) is a Chinese character meaning “to add”. It is written from 氵 (water (left-side form)) and 忝 (to be unworthy (humble term); sound part of 添 and 舔), side by side, and takes 11 strokes.
Build the character for “to add”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
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Structure
氵 + 忝
Left–right structure
- 氵 water (left-side form) · shuǐ meaning
- 忝 to be unworthy (humble term); sound part of 添 and 舔 · tiǎn sound
Structure from: makemeahanzi dictionary (⿰氵忝; pictophonetic: 氵 semantic, 忝 phonetic) + cjkvi-ids (⿰氵忝)
Memory aid
Pour water (氵) in beside 忝 (tiǎn, which also lends the sound) to top it up — that is 添: to add more.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
11 strokes
In real words
- 添加tiān jiāto add; to append添 = tiān
- 增添zēng tiānto add; to increase (e.g. joy, color, trouble)添 = tiān
Go deeper
All readings
to add
to add; to append; to increase; to replenish
增加；补充，使更多。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 添加tiān jiāto add; to append添 = tiān
- 增添zēng tiānto add; to increase (e.g. joy, color, trouble)添 = tiān
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 添 mean?
添 (tiān) means to add; to append; to increase; to replenish.
How do you pronounce 添?
It is pronounced tiān.
What parts is 添 made of?
氵 (water (left-side form)) and 忝 (to be unworthy (humble term); sound part of 添 and 舔), side by side. The recorded source is: makemeahanzi dictionary (⿰氵忝; pictophonetic: 氵 semantic, 忝 phonetic) + cjkvi-ids (⿰氵忝). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 添 have?
11. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 添?
氵. 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 添?
Common ones are 添加 and 增添. The reading of 添 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.