袒 (tǎn) · to bare (one's body), to expose

Meanings

1 to bare (one's body)
2 to expose
3 to take sides with / shield

Characters

袒

tǎn

bare / shield

Examples

HSK 6

他袒胸露背地坐在树下。

Tā tǎnxiōng lù bèi de zuò zài shù xià.

He sat under the tree, bare-chested.

HSK 7-9

母亲总是袒护小儿子。

Mǔqīn zǒngshì tǎnhù xiǎo érzi.

The mother always shields her younger son.

Tips

memory

Radical 衤 (clothing) + 旦 (dawn / open). Picture clothing 'opened up at dawn' - bared. The same character extends to figurative 'baring of partiality': 袒护 (tǎnhù, to shield), 偏袒 (piāntǎn, to be biased toward).

Components

radical

衤 yī

clothing (left-side)

Clothing radical on the left - left-side form of 衣 - marks 袒 as a clothing-related verb: literally to expose part of the body by opening one's robe. Same radical groups it with 衫 (shirt), 袖 (sleeve), 裙 (skirt). Don't confuse with 礻 (spirit), which has only four strokes.

phonetic

旦 dàn

dawn; daybreak

旦 supplies the sound - dàn → tǎn - through a tone and aspiration shift. The same 旦 phonetic appears in 担 (dān, carry), 胆 (dǎn, gall), 但 (dàn, but), all sharing the dan/tan onset family. Mnemonic: at dawn 旦 you 袒 your shoulder to the rising sun.