chán
adjective

Meanings

  1. 1 murmuring; trickling (of flowing water)

Examples

HSK 5
Yèlǐ néng tīngdào quánshuǐ chánchán de shēngyīn.
At night you could hear the gurgling of the spring.
HSK 7-9
Shānjiǎoxià yì tiáo qīngchè de xiǎoxī chánchán liúguò.
A clear stream trickles past the foot of the mountain.

Tips

memory
Almost always doubled as 潺潺, an onomatopoeic word for the soft babbling of a brook. The water radical plus the sound 'chán-chán' should bring a trickling stream to mind.

Components

radical
shuǐ
water (left-side form)
Left-side water radical , the three-drop form of . It marks as a water sound - the murmur of a flowing stream.
phonetic
chán
weak; frail
Right side supplies the sound chán. Its own meaning, 'weak', plays no role here - it is purely the phonetic in 潺潺.

Stroke Order

chán