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昙

曇
tán
noun

Meanings

  1. 1 dense clouds
  2. 2 (in Buddhist transliteration) dharma

Examples

HSK 2
昙花只开了几个小时。
Tánhuā zhǐ kāi le jǐ gè xiǎoshí.
The night-blooming cereus opened for just a few hours.
HSK 7-9
他的名气不过是昙花一现。
Tā de míngqì búguò shì tánhuāyíxiàn.
His fame was just a brief flash, soon forgotten.

Tips

culture
The famous phrase is 昙花一现 - 'the epiphyllum blooms but once' - for something brilliant that vanishes almost instantly. 昙 also transliterates Buddhist terms (dharma).

Components

semantic
日 rì
sun
Top 日 is the sun. Clouds are what gathers in front of the sun, so sun-over-cloud paints a sky thick with cloud.
semantic
云 yún
cloud
Bottom 云 is 'cloud'. Combined with the sun above, the character means a sky heavy with massed clouds.

Stroke Order

昙 tán