Pinyin Syllable

Chinese characters pronounced zan

Learn common Chinese characters pronounced zan, including 赞 zàn, 咱 zá / zán, 暂 zàn. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms, words, and example sentences.

How to Pronounce This Syllable

For zan, start with the flat z and let it flow into an, holding the tone over the joined syllable.

Initial z

Use a flat tongue. It is not English “z”.

Final an

Keep an short and open; do not turn it into ang.

Study Tip

Start with the most common characters (赞 zàn, 咱 zá / zán, 暂 zàn) and lock in their tones. 3 common characters share the sound zan, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.

Learn by Tone

zan turns up here with 2 different tones; a change of tone usually means a different character, so the groups below are split by tone.

2nd tone

Taking the 2nd tone here: 咱 (1 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

咱zá / zánwe (incl.); we (incl.)

4th tone

Taking the 4th tone here: 赞, 暂 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

赞zànto praise; to patronize; to support; to praise 暂zàntemporarily

Common Words With This Sound

Seeing zan inside whole words makes it clear which character is meant — here are common ones.

赞助zàn zhùto support; to assist; to sponsor 赞成zàn chéngto approve; to endorse; (literary) to assist 称赞chēng zànto praise; to commend; to compliment 咱们zán menwe or us (including both the speaker and the person(s) spoken to); (dialect) I or me; (dialect) (in a coaxing or familiar way) you 这咱zhè zánnow; at this moment 那咱nà zanat that time (old)暂时zàn shítemporary; provisional; for the time being 暂停zàn tíngto suspend; time-out (e.g. in sports); stoppage; pause (media player)暂且zàn qiěfor now; for the time being; temporarily

Characters

3 common characters in this group.

Character#1 赞 zànto praise; to patronize; to support; to praiseTraditional: 讚 Character#2 咱 zá / zánwe (incl.); we (incl.)Traditional: 咱 Character#3 暂 zàntemporarilyTraditional: 暫