Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced chan
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced chan, including 产 chǎn, 单 dān / chán / shàn, 颤 chàn / zhàn, 缠 chán, 禅 chán / shàn. Compare tones, meanings…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
For chan, curl the tongue back on ch and join it smoothly to an; keep it as a single syllable and hold the tone steady.
Initial ch
Like zh, but with a clear puff of air.
Final an
Keep an short and open; do not turn it into ang.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (产 chǎn, 单 dān / chán / shàn, 颤 chàn / zhàn, 缠 chán, 禅 chán / shàn) and lock in their tones. 6 common characters share the sound chan, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
chan turns up here with 4 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
1st tone
Taking the 1st tone here: 单 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 缠, 禅 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
3rd tone
Taking the 3rd tone here: 产, 阐 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
4th tone
Taking the 4th tone here: 颤 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing chan inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
6 common characters in this group.