撼 (hàn): to shake

Meanings

1 to shake
2 to vibrate
3 to shock

Characters

撼

hàn

to shake

Examples

HSK 7-9

蚍蜉撼树，自不量力。

Pí fú hàn shù, zì bù liàng lì.

An ant trying to shake a tree - overestimating one's strength.

HSK 7-9

这部电影震撼了观众。

Zhèbù diànyǐng zhènhàn le guānzhòng.

This film shook the audience.

Tips

usage

Rarely used alone in modern Chinese - appears mostly in compounds: 震撼 (to shock/awe), 撼动 (to shake up), and the chengyu 蚍蜉撼树 (an ant shaking a tree).

memory

扌 (hand) + 感 (gǎn, to feel) - to use your hand to make something feel a strong jolt. The phonetic 感 hints at the reading hàn.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand (radical form of 手)

Side-hand radical on the left - compressed form of 手. Indexes 撼 in the manual-action family with 摇 to shake, 推 to push, 拉 to pull. 撼 means to shake violently, to rock with great force - a hand applied to something massive - so the radical names the agent doing the shaking.

phonetic

感 gǎn

to feel; sense

Right side 感 supplies the sound - gǎn shifted to hàn through Old-Chinese g/h alternation. 感's own 'to move emotionally' meaning quietly reinforces 撼: 震撼 means deeply moved or shaken, both literally and figuratively. The hand shakes the body; the feeling shakes the mind.