坛 (tán): altar; platform (for ceremonies)

Meanings

1 altar; platform (for ceremonies)
2 circle; world (of a profession or field)
3 earthen jar; pot

Characters

坛

tán

altar; circle; jar

Examples

HSK 7-9

他在文坛上很有影响力。

Tā zài wéntán shàng hěn yǒu yǐngxiǎnglì.

He is very influential in the literary world.

HSK 7-9

天坛是明清两代皇帝祭天的地方。

Tiāntán shì Míng Qīng liǎng dài huángdì jì tiān de dìfang.

The Temple of Heaven is where Ming and Qing emperors held sacrificial ceremonies.

Tips

usage

坛 is used as a suffix meaning 'circle/world' for professional fields: 文坛 (literary world), 体坛 (sports world), 影坛 (film world), 歌坛 (music world), 论坛 (forum).

Components

radical

土 tǔ

earth; soil

Left earth radical - pictograph of a clod of soil on the ground. Anchors the meaning: an altar is a raised earthen platform, and an earthen jar is shaped from clay. Same family: 地 ground, 城 wall, 堆 pile, 墙 wall - all built up from soil.

phonetic

云 yún

cloud; to say

Right 云 supplies the sound in the simplified form - yún shifting to tán via the substitution rule of the 1956 reform, which replaced the heavier traditional 亶 phonetic with the lighter 云. The traditional 壇 keeps the older shape; 云 here carries no cloud meaning, just a compact phonetic placeholder.