安

ān
adjective HSK 5 #1,566

Meanings

  1. 1 calm; peaceful; safe
  2. 2 to install; to set up

Characters

A woman (女) under a roof (宀) - a woman safe at home represents peace and security.

Examples

HSK 1
晚安!
Wǎn'ān!
Good night!
HSK 3
Zhèlǐ hěn ānquán.
It's very safe here.
HSK 5
Tā bāng wǒ bǎ xīn diànnǎo de xìtǒng ānzhuāng hǎo le.
He installed the system on my new computer for me.

Tips

usage
A woman (女) under a roof (宀) = peace/safety. Key compounds: 安全 (safe), 安静 (quiet), 安排 (to arrange), 安装 (to install), 平安 (safe and sound).

Components

radical
宀 mián
roof; house cover
Roof radical on top - the indexing semantic. 宀 pictures the eaves and ridgepole of a house. With a woman safely inside, the character delivers the canonical 'peace-at-home' image. The radical files 安 alongside 家 (home), 室 (room), 寒 (cold-shelter), 守 (guard) - all building-and-shelter words.
semantic
女 nǚ
woman
Woman under the roof - the second semantic. The traditional reading is that a woman seated quietly inside the house is the very picture of stillness, peace, and security. From this concrete scene came 安 'safe, calm, peaceful', the verb 'to settle/install', and compounds like 安全 (safety), 安心 (set the heart at ease).

Stroke Order

安 ān