杆 (gān): pole; rod; shaft (long vertical…

Measure Word

一根杆 gēn

Meanings

1 pole; rod; shaft (long vertical type)
2 classifier for long thin objects

Characters

杆

gān

pole; rod; shaft

Examples

旗杆上飘着国旗。

Qígān shàng piāo zhe guóqí.

The national flag is flying on the flagpole.

电线杆倒在了路中央。

Diànxiàngān dǎo zài le lù zhōngyāng.

The utility pole fell in the middle of the road.

桅杆上挂着白色的帆。

Wéigān shàng guà zhe báisè de fān.

A white sail hangs from the mast.

Tips

usage

gān is the reading for long, free-standing poles — 旗杆 (flagpole), 电线杆 (utility pole), 桅杆 (ship's mast), 栏杆 (railing), 撑杆跳 (pole vault). Picture something tall enough to plant upright.

mistakes

杆 has two readings. gān covers free-standing poles. gǎn covers the handle or shaft of an object — 笔杆 pen shaft, 枪杆 gun barrel, 杠杆 lever. Rough rule: if you could stand it up in the ground, it's gān; if it's the stick part of a tool or weapon, it's gǎn.

Components

radical

木 mù

tree; wood

Left tree radical (Kangxi #75) — the indexing radical. A pole, shaft, or rod is a wooden object, so the wood-family marker is literal here. Same radical in 林, 树, 板, 桥, 棒 — the timber/lumber characters.

phonetic

干 gān

shield; pole; dry

Right component supplies the sound (gān, no shift) and adds a faint semantic echo: 干 itself originally pictured a forked weapon/pole and still appears in 旗杆 (flagpole), 栏杆 (railing). So 杆 is 'a wood-version of the pole shape', unusually transparent both phonetically and semantically.