gàn do; shield; to concern


Alternative traditional form of character:
Made with 3 strokes.
A picture of a shield
Ancient small seal form Small seal

Different tone

gān (pleasant) ; gān (liver) ; gān (pole) ; gǎn (to overtake)

Radical

Index 51 used in: àn (bank) ; gǎn (to overtake) ; gān (liver) ; gān (pole) ; hàn (perspiration) ; kān (to print) ; nián (year)

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Pronunciation

Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License

stroke order for 干
Stroke order for character 干, kindly provided under Wikimedia creative commons license

Proverbs

干活不由东累死也无功 gàn huó bú yóu dōng lèi sǐ yě wú gōng Only work on what is needed to be done
乳臭未干 rǔ chòu wèi gān Infantile and immature
乳臭未干 rǔ chòu wèi gān Young and inexperienced
外强中干 wài qiáng zhōng gān Looking strong and powerful but actually weak. Flattering appearance that does not represent true worth.
干将莫邪 gān jiāng mò yé These are the names of two supreme bronze swords of long ago. Gan Jiang was unable to melt the bronze until he added some hair and nail clippings from his wife Mo Ye. Only then could the swords be made and they were the sharpest swords ever made. Used to honor someone or something as superlative.