敢
Tap the pinyin to hear it
to dare; daring; (polite) may I venture
- HSK 3.0
- Level 3
- Old HSK
- Level 4
- Strokes
- 11
- Radical
- 攴 +8
- Structure
- Left–right 左右
- Traditional
- 敢
- Common rank
- #2,044
- Unicode
- U+6562
Sound it out + =
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
How 敢 is formed
Ideographic compound (会意字)
A hand with a stick 攵 striking a beast 耳
How to remember it
brave · Heisig RSH #722
thumbtack + 耳 ear + taskmaster
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Words with 敢
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 不敢越雷池一步 | dare not go one step beyond the prescribed limit | |
| 敢为人先 | to dare to be first; to pioneer (idiom) | |
| 不敢自专 | not daring to act for oneself (idiom) | |
| 不敢当 | lit. I dare not (accept the honor); fig. I don't deserve your praise; you flatter me | |
| 舍得一身剐，敢把皇帝拉下马 | one who does not fear the death of thousand cuts will dare to unhorse the emperor (proverb… | |
| 石敢当 | stone tablet erected to ward off evil spirits | |
| 敢怒而不敢言 | angry, but not daring to speak out (idiom); obliged to remain silent about one's resentmen… | |
| 敢死队 | suicide squad; kamikaze unit | |
| 不敢高攀 | lit. not dare to pull oneself up high (humble term); I cannot presume on your attention | |
| 敢不 | (literary) how could one dare not ...?; how could I possibly fail to ...? (introducing a r… | |
| 不敢恭维 | (idiom) less than impressed; underwhelmed | |
| 愧不敢当 | lit. I'm ashamed and dare not (accept the honor); fig. I do not deserve your praise.; You … | |
| 敢情 | actually; as it turns out; indeed; of course | |
| 敢言 | to be bold enough to speak out | |
| 敢作敢为 | (idiom) to stop at nothing; to dare to do anything | |
| 敢作敢当 | variant of 敢做敢當|敢做敢当[gan3 zuo4 gan3 dang1] | |
| 敢为 | to dare to do | |
| 敢达 | Gundam, Japanese animation franchise | |
| 不敢苟同 | to beg to differ (idiom) | |
| 果敢 | courageous; resolute and daring |
Sound family
These characters use 敢 as their sound component — compare how they read.