摊 (tān): vendor's stall

Measure Word

一个摊 gè

Meanings

1 vendor's stall
2 booth
3 to spread out
4 to share (costs)

Characters

摊

tān

stall; stand; to spread out

Examples

路边有很多卖水果的小摊。

Lùbiān yǒu hěnduō mài shuǐguǒ de xiǎotān.

There are many small fruit stalls on the roadside.

费用大家一起摊吧。

Fèiyòng dàjiā yīqǐ tān ba.

Let's share the costs among everyone.

Tips

usage

摊 has multiple uses: as a noun it means 'stall/booth' (小摊, 地摊); as a verb it means 'to spread out' (摊开) or 'to share/apportion' (分摊).

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical form of 手)

Left-side hand radical — three strokes condensed from 手, the indexing component. Puts 摊 in the manual-action family with 打 to hit, 拉 to pull, 推 to push, 摆 to lay out. The core idea is using hands to spread something flat — a market stall of goods, or a difficult situation laid bare.

phonetic

难 nán

difficult (here phonetic)

Right 难 supplies the sound — nán shifts to tān, an attested n-/t- alternation in this phonetic family. Don't pull 'difficult' into the meaning. The traditional form 攤 used phonetic 難; simplified just inherits the streamlined right side.