刊 (kān) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

刊

kān[kan1]Tone 1

publication, to print, to carve

HSK 6

Multiple Readings (多音字):

Guru Deep Dive

English · publication, to print, to carve

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:5

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (the knife radical 刂) should be slightly narrower and placed higher up, while the right side (干) provides stability with its longer vertical stroke extending downward.

1. Meaning

publication

to printto publishto carveto amend

verb / nounFormal#media#publishing#editing

Sample Usage

这本期刊很受欢迎。
Zhè běn qīkān hěn shòu huānnyíng.
This periodical is very popular.
文章已在报刊上发表。
Wénzhāng yǐ zài bàokān shàng fābiǎo.
The article has already been published in newspapers and periodicals.

2. Sound

/[kʰän˥˥]/Tone: 55

刊

kānkan1

¯(55)

=kān

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Velar

Sounds like: k sound as in 'kite'

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Strong gust of air from throat! Tissue held in front MUST fly forward.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Back of tongue raised against the soft palate, releasing a burst of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -an rhymes with 'on' in 'con' or 'an' in 'father' plus nasal n

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ahn'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T1 (55)

5 → 5 (55)

1st Tone (High-Flat)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 1 is a high, steady pitch, similar to a musical note sustained at the top of your vocal range without rising or falling.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the initial 'k-' with 'g-', or failing to make the vowel 'an' open enough, sounding like 'kāng' vs 'kēng'.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A flat, high horizontal line drawn in the air at eye level, representing the steady high pitch of Tone 1.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 5 strokes

4. Components

Radical 刂 · knife radical (knife, blade, cutting tool)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 刂 (indicates carving or scraping with a knife)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 干 (original sound: gān / kān)

A knife (刂) used on wood or bamboo slips to carve (干) words for printing and publishing.

刂 knife / cutting tool
干 dry / trunk / phonetic and structural base

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

17· Phonetic Root: 干 (gān)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally combined the meaning of cutting or shaving with a knife (刂) and a phonetic component (干). Ancient texts used it for scraping bamboo slips to correct text, which later evolved into carving printing blocks and publishing.

Semantic Evolution: From the physical act of scraping or carving with a knife to the broader meaning of publishing text and periodicals.

Before paper was common, characters were carved into wood or bamboo using knives, linking editing directly to cutting tools.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

san

Mandarin Tone 1 corresponds roughly to Vietnamese ngang tone.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: カン

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

간

Sound Shift Bridge: Shared East Asian literary root 'kan' / 'san' referring to publications or printing.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

With a sharp knife (刂), you carve words into a tree trunk (干) to print and publish your very first magazine.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

干

gāndry / stemBase component without the knife radical.

赶

gǎnto catch up / rushAdds the walking/movement radical (走).

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

汗(hàn)

Has the water radical (氵) instead of the knife radical (刂), meaning 'sweat'.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

这本学术___物在国内外很有影响。

Clue: qī kān

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the right-hand component '干' with '千' (thousand), leading to incorrect stroke order or shape.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 刊 mean when combined with 期 to form 期刊?

Production: How do you write the character for 'publication / to print' (kān) using the knife radical?

刊kānpublication, to print, to carve

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