Pinyin Syllable

Chinese characters pronounced zhan

Learn common Chinese characters pronounced zhan, including 战 zhàn, 展 zhǎn, 站 zhàn, 占 zhān / zhàn, 颤 chàn / zhàn. Compare tones, meanings, traditional forms…

How to Pronounce This Syllable

To say zhan, set the tongue tip back for the retroflex zh, then run into an without a pause — one Mandarin block, with the tone laid over it.

Initial zh

Put the tongue slightly curled back. Do not pronounce it like English “j”.

Final an

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

Study Tip

Start with the most common characters (战 zhàn, 展 zhǎn, 站 zhàn, 占 zhān / zhàn, 颤 chàn / zhàn) and lock in their tones. 8 common characters share the sound zhan, so lean on words to tell the rest apart.

Learn by Tone

zhan turns up here with 3 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: 占, 粘, 沾 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

占zhān / zhànto observe; to divine; to divine; to occupy; to constitute; to make up 粘zhān / niánsticky; to stick; paste 沾zhāninfected by; moisten; receive favors; moisten

3rd tone

Taking the 3rd tone here: 展, 斩 (2 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

展zhǎnto use; to spread out; to postpone; to unfold 斩zhǎnbehead; chop

4th tone

Taking the 4th tone here: 战, 站, 颤 (3 in total). Lock this tone in your ear before the meaning.

战zhànto fight; fight; war; battle 站zhànstation; to stand; to halt; to stop 颤chàn / zhànto tremble; to shiver; to shake; to vibrate

Common Words With This Sound

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

战争zhàn zhēngwar; conflict 挑战tiǎo zhànto challenge; to take on a challenge; a challenge 战斗zhàn dòuto fight; to engage in combat; struggle; battle 发展fā zhǎndevelopment; growth; to develop; to grow 进展jìn zhǎnto make headway; to make progress 展开zhǎn kāito unfold; to spread out; to open up; to launch 车站chē zhànrail station; bus stop 火车站huǒ chē zhàntrain station 网站wǎng zhànwebsite 占领zhàn lǐngto capture; to seize; to occupy by force

Characters

8 common characters in this group.

Character#1 战 zhànto fight; fight; war; battleTraditional: 戰 Character#2 展 zhǎnto use; to spread out; to postpone; to unfoldTraditional: 展 Character#3 站 zhànstation; to stand; to halt; to stopTraditional: 站 Character#4 占 zhān / zhànto observe; to divine; to divine; to occupy; to constitute; to make upTraditional: 占 Character#5 颤 chàn / zhànto tremble; to shiver; to shake; to vibrateTraditional: 顫 Character#6 粘 zhān / niánsticky; to stick; pasteTraditional: 粘 Character#7 沾 zhāninfected by; moisten; receive favors; moistenTraditional: 沾 Character#8 斩 zhǎnbehead; chopTraditional: 斬