当 dāng to be; to act as; manage
Made up of [小 xiǎo small; young radical 42, 彐 jì snout radical 58]Alternative traditional form of character: 當
Made with 6 strokes.
Ancient small seal form 
Related characters
Also uses 小 xiǎo component: 京 jīng (capital) 尚 shàng (still) 少 shǎo (less) 孙 sūn (grandson)
Also uses 彐 jì component: 妇 fù (woman) 归 guī (to return)
Pronunciation
Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net ➚ under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License
Stroke order for character 当, kindly provided under Wikimedia creative commons license ➚
Proverbs
臭不可当 chòu bù kě dāng To give off an unbearable stink当局者迷,旁观者清 dāng jú zhě mí, páng guān zhě qīng If too closely involved may not see all the issues involved
宁做鸡头,不当凤尾 nìng zuò jītóu, bù dāng fèng wěi Better to be leader of a humble organization than the stooge of a grand one
死马当活马医 sǐ mǎ dāng huó mǎ yī Persevering when it is already too late. A lost cause
安步当车 ān bù dàng chē Turn down luxury and high office for a simpler life. The story is of a scholar from the Warring States period who was offered great wealth and his own carriage to serve the King of Qi.
老当益壮 lǎo dāng yì zhuàng Remaining vigorous, skillful and healthy in old age.