chǎn
noun HSK 7-9 #8,255

Measure Word

Meanings

  1. 1 shovel
  2. 2 spade
  3. 3 to shovel
  4. 4 to scrape

Examples

Tā náqǐ chǎnzi kāishǐ wā tǔ.
He picked up the shovel and started digging.
Yòng chǎnzi bǎ xuě chǎn diào.
Shovel the snow away with a shovel.
Guōchǎn shì chúfáng lǐ bìbùkěshǎo de gōngjù.
A spatula is an indispensable kitchen tool.

Tips

usage
as a noun usually appears as 铲子 (shovel). 锅铲 is a cooking spatula/turner. As a verb, means to shovel or scrape: 铲雪 (shovel snow), 铲除 (to root out/eradicate).

Components

radical
jīn
metal (radical form of 金)
Metal radical on the left - the side-form of . It files in the metal-tool family with pot, nail, hammer. A shovel is a metal blade with a handle, and the radical pins that material right at the front of the character.
phonetic
chǎn
to produce (here phonetic)
Right side supplies the chǎn sound exactly. The 'produce' meaning isn't loaded into - read here as a pure phonetic. Same trick appears in , , where the right side is a sound clue rather than a meaning hint.

Stroke Order

chǎn