ENESFRDE中文

Characters, words, pinyin or English

汉 hàn Chinese people

Chinese people; Han

How to remember 汉: 氵 water + 又 again = Chinese people. At the dragon boat race the paddler splashes water again and again and waves to the cheering crowd of Chinese people on the bank.

  • 711. most frequent character
  • HSK 1
  • 5 strokes
  • Radical 水

Component breakdown

形声 · Meaning + sound

originally 水 + 熯

One part gives the meaning, the other gives the sound.

汉 = 氵 water + 又 again

  • 氵 water meaning
  • 又 again shape only
The Gushi story

At the dragon boat race the paddler splashes water again and again and waves to the cheering crowd of Chinese people on the bank.

How it came to be

Water gives the meaning, as the word first named a river; the 1956 short form made the right side much simpler.

How it is used

  • 'Han (Chinese)': 汉语 (Hànyǔ) the Han/Chinese language, 汉字 (Hànzì) Chinese characters, naming the Han majority.
  • Contrast: 中文 (Zhōngwén) is 'Chinese' as the general/written language, while 汉语 stresses the spoken Han tongue.

Words with 汉

Example sentences

  • 你会说汉语吗？ Nǐ huì shuō Hànyǔ ma?Can you speak Chinese?
  • 你能说汉语吗？ Nǐ néng shuō Hànyǔ ma?Can you speak Chinese?
  • 我认识这个汉字。 Wǒ rènshi zhège Hànzì.I know this Chinese character.
  • 汉语的词语很多。 Hànyǔ de cíyǔ hěn duō.The Chinese language has many words and expressions.