探

tàn
verb HSK 7-9 #549

Meanings

  1. 1 to explore
  2. 2 to probe
  3. 3 to visit

Examples

HSK 6
Wǒ qù tànwàng le shēngbìng de péngyou.
I went to visit my sick friend.
HSK 7-9
Tāmen zài tànsuǒ yǔzhòu de àomì.
They are exploring the mysteries of the universe.

Tips

usage
Common in 探索 (tànsuǒ, to explore) and 探望 (tànwàng, to visit).

Components

radical
扌 shǒu
hand
Hand radical on the left - the standing form of 手 with three strokes. It supplies meaning: 探 is fundamentally a hand action, whether reaching into something to feel its depth (探险) or stretching out to test (试探). Same radical anchors a huge family of physical-action verbs: 找, 把, 抓, 推.
phonetic
罙 shēn
deep
罙 on the right - the bare phonetic of 深 without its water radical. Pictures a hand reaching down into a cave-mouth (穴) toward a tree at the bottom. Supplies the sound (drifted shēn → tàn) and a strong semantic flavour: 探 is a hand reaching deep. Same phonetic stem also feeds 深 itself.

Stroke Order

探 tàn