汗

hàn
noun HSK 4 #3,777

Meanings

  1. 1 sweat; perspiration

Examples

HSK 4
Tā pǎo wán bù hòu mǎntóu-dàhàn.
He was drenched in sweat after running.
HSK 4
Jǐnzhāng de shǒuxīn dōu chūhàn le.
So nervous that my palms were sweating.
HSK 6
Tiān tài rè le, wǒ chū le yìshēn hàn.
It's too hot, I'm covered in sweat.

Tips

usage
出汗 (chū hàn) means 'to sweat.' 汗水 (hànshuǐ) is a more literary/emphatic form. 冷汗 (lěnghàn) means 'cold sweat' (from fear or nervousness).
memory
The water radical 氵 on the left, because sweat is liquid. The right side 干 (gān, dry) - your body tries to dry itself by sweating.

Components

radical
氵 shuǐ
water (radical form of 水)
Three-drops water radical on the left - the side-form of 水. Sweat is the body's water, so the water radical groups 汗 with the family of bodily fluids and water-words: 泪 (tears), 汁 (juice), 涎 (saliva), 液 (liquid).
phonetic
干 gān
dry (here phonetic)
Provides the sound (gān → hàn, with shift). 干 means dry but here functions primarily as phonetic. Some learners find a memorable irony in water + dry = sweat - the body's water that ends up dried on the skin. Same phonetic in 杆 (gān, pole), 肝 (gān, liver), 竿 (gān, bamboo pole).

Stroke Order

汗 hàn