Pinyin Syllable
Chinese characters pronounced nan
Learn common Chinese characters pronounced nan, including 难 nán / nàn, 南 nán, 男 nán, 喃 nán. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words…
How to Pronounce This Syllable
nan joins the initial n to the final an in one motion — say it as a single Mandarin beat with the tone over it, not as English letters in a row.
Initial n
Start the syllable on the initial n, then run straight into the final an — keep them joined instead of sounding out separate English letters.
Final an
Keep an short and open; do not turn it into ang.
Study Tip
Start with the most common characters (难 nán / nàn, 南 nán, 男 nán, 喃 nán) and lock in their tones. 4 common characters share the sound nan, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.
Learn by Tone
nan turns up here with 1 different tone; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.
2nd tone
Taking the 2nd tone here: 难, 南, 男… (4 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.
Common Words With This Sound
Seeing nan inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.
Characters
4 common characters in this group.