Meaning
three; 3
Chinese: 数字三。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “san” becomes a different word in each tone. 三 is the 1st tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 再三zài sānover and over again; again and again
- 三角sān jiǎotriangle; (math.) trigonometry
- 三明治sān míng zhì(loanword) sandwich
- 丢三落四diū sān là sìforgetful; empty-headed
- 三维sān wéithree-dimensional; 3D
More Words
Example Sentence
我每天喝三杯水。Wǒ měi tiān hē sān bēi shuǐ.I drink three glasses of water every day.
我WǒI每天měi tiānevery day喝hēto drink三sānthree杯bēicup水shuǐShui ethnic group。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
Three horizontal strokes meaning ‘three’. Chinese stops stacking lines after three and switches to other shapes for larger numbers.
A way to remember it
Three lines = three.