丹

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red; pellet; powder; cinnabar

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HSK 3.0: Level 7–9
Strokes: 4
Radical: 丶 +3
Structure: Overlaid 叠加
Traditional: 丹
Common rank: #708
Unicode: U+4E39

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

How 丹 is formed

Ideographic compound (会意字)

A red pellet 丶 from a mine 井

Components 冂亠

How to remember it

cinnabar red · Heisig RSH #1554

hood + a drop of + 一 one

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

Words with 丹

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
丹江口市	Dān jiāng kǒu Shì	Danjiangkou, a county-level city in Shiyan City 十堰市[Shi2 yan4 Shi4], Hubei
山丹县	Shān dān Xiàn	Shandan, a county in Zhangye City 張掖市\|张掖市[Zhang1 ye4 Shi4], Gansu
拉马丹	Lā mǎ dān	Ramadan (loanword)
南丹县	Nán dān Xiàn	Nandan, a county in Hechi City 河池市[He2 chi2 Shi4], Guangxi
丹巴县	Dān bā Xiàn	Danba, a county in Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 甘孜藏族自治州[Gan1 zi1 Zang4 zu2 Zi4 zhi4…
丹东市	Dān dōng Shì	Dandong, prefecture-level city in Liaoning Province 遼寧省\|辽宁省[Liao2 ning2 Sheng3]
丹阳市	Dān yáng Shì	Danyang, a county-level city in Zhenjiang City 鎮江市\|镇江市[Zhen4 jiang1 Shi4], Jiangsu
丹尼斯	Dān ní sī	Dennis (name)
丹尼尔	Dān ní ěr	Daniel (name)
丹江口	Dān jiāng kǒu	see 丹江口市[Dan1 jiang1 kou3 Shi4]
太子丹	Tài zǐ Dān	Prince Dan of Yan (–226 BC), commissioned the attempted assassination of King Ying Zheng 嬴…
史丹福大学	Shǐ dān fú Dà xué	Stanford University
士丹利	Shì dān lì	Stanley (name)
阿姆斯特丹	Ā mǔ sī tè dān	Amsterdam, capital of Netherlands
吉兰丹河	Jí lán dān Hé	Kelantan River of Malaysia, near Thai border
不丹	Bù dān	Bhutan
吉兰丹州	Jí lán dān zhōu	Kelantan sultanate of Malaysia, near Thai border, capital Kota Baharu 哥打巴魯\|哥打巴鲁[Ge1 da3 ba…
山丹	Shān dān	see 山丹縣\|山丹县[Shan1 dan1 Xian4]
山丹	shān dān	coral lily (Lilium pumilum)
红毛丹	hóng máo dān	rambutan or rumbutan (tropical fruit) (Nephelium lappaceum)

Sound family

These characters use 丹 as their sound component — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
丹 sound part	dān	cinnabar, red, vermilion; pellet, powder
坍	tān	collapse; landslide
旃	zhān	felt; a silk banner on a bent pole
栴	zhān	sandalwood