chán
noun #61,477

Meanings

  1. 1 toad
  2. 2 the moon

Characters

Examples

Héyè xià dūn zhe yì zhī chánchú.
There is a toad squatting under the lotus leaf.
Gǔshī lǐ cháng bǎ yuèliang chēng wéi chángōng.
Classical poems often call the moon the "toad palace."

Tips

culture
An old myth places a three-legged toad in the moon, so became a poetic name for the moon itself. 蟾宫 ('toad palace') means the moon, and 蟾宫折桂 ('pluck cassia in the toad palace') means passing the imperial exams.
memory
The bug radical marks it as a creepy-crawly; the right side gives the rhyme. Almost always seen in 蟾蜍 (toad).

Components

radical
chóng
insect; creeping creature
The insect radical on the left files this under small crawling creatures, the broad category old Chinese used for amphibians like toads as well as bugs.
phonetic
zhān
verbose; surname Zhan
Carries the sound: shifted to chán here, the same phonetic series seen in and .

Stroke Order

chán