敢

gǎn
verb HSK 4 #399

Meanings

  1. 1 to dare
  2. 2 bold; daring

Examples

HSK 1
Wǒ bù gǎn shuō.
I don't dare to say.
HSK 1
Tā shénme dōu gǎn zuò.
He dares to do anything.
HSK 3
Nǐ gǎn bù gǎn tiào?
Do you dare to jump?

Tips

grammar
敢 goes directly before the verb: 不敢说 (don't dare to say), 不敢去 (don't dare to go). The pattern 敢不敢 (dare or not dare) is a common way to challenge someone.
usage
勇敢 (yǒnggǎn) = brave/courageous. 敢于 (gǎnyú) = to have the courage to (more formal).

Components

radical
攵 pū
tap; strike (radical form)
Right indexing strike radical (the rap radical, abbreviated form of 攴) - a hand holding a stick. Combined with the left side's ear-seizing image, the whole character reads 'boldly striking and seizing' - a daring act of force. Same radical anchors many forceful-action verbs: 改 (alter), 散 (scatter), 救 (rescue), 攻 (attack).
semantic
耳 ěr
ear (with grasping hand on top)
Left side combines a small stroke at the top with the ear 耳 below - depicting a hand reaching down to seize an animal's ear or tusk, the iconic gesture of a daring act in oracle-bone script. The fused top-stroke (1 contraction stroke) plus full 耳 below give the 'seizing dangerous prey' image that grounds the meaning 'to dare'. Standalone 耳 = 6 strokes; here 7 because the grasping mark is fused in.

Stroke Order

敢 gǎn