chán
adjective

Meanings

  1. 1 murmuring; trickling (of flowing water)

Examples

Shānjiǎoxià yì tiáo qīngchè de xiǎoxī chánchán liúguò.
A clear stream trickles past the foot of the mountain.
Yèlǐ néng tīngdào quánshuǐ chánchán de shēngyīn.
At night you could hear the gurgling of the spring.

Tips

memory
Almost always doubled as 潺潺, an onomatopoeic word for the soft babbling of a brook. The water radical plus the sound 'chán-chán' should bring a trickling stream to mind.

Components

radical
shuǐ
water (left-side form)
Left-side water radical , the three-drop form of . It marks as a water sound — the murmur of a flowing stream.
phonetic
chán
weak; frail
Right side supplies the sound chán. Its own meaning, 'weak', plays no role here — it is purely the phonetic in 潺潺.

Stroke Order

chán