勘 (kān) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

勘

kān[kan1]Tone 1

to investigate

HSK 7

Guru Deep Dive

English · to investigate

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:11

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (甚) is slightly compressed to make room for the right side (力), keeping the overall square balanced and preventing the character from tipping over.

1. Meaning

to investigate, examine, or survey

to collate textsto compare versions

VerbFormalBound morpheme#research#investigation#action

Sample Usage

勘测地形
kāncè dìxíng
to survey the terrain
勘误校对
kānwù jiàoduì
to investigate errors and proofread

2. Sound

/[kʰän˥˥]/Tone: 55

勘

kānkan1

¯(55)

=kān

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

kan

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "a" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Initial Consonant

Type: Aspirated Velar

Sounds like: k sound as in 'key'

Aspirated

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

Tongue & Mouth Position: Back of the tongue raises to touch the soft palate, then releases with a strong burst of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -an rhymes with 'on' or 'un' in 'bun'

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 steady high note, similar to singing a high note in a song or saying 'A-ha!' on a sustained high pitch.

👂

Listening trap: Do not confuse it with 3rd tone kǎn (to chop/sink) or 4th tone kàn (to look). Make sure to keep this Tone 1 flat and high.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Imagine a high, steady laser beam shooting straight across the horizon at a fixed high pitch.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 11 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (甚) is slightly compressed to make room for the right side (力), keeping the overall square balanced and preventing the character from tipping over.

4. Components

Radical 力 · Power Radical (strength or force)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 力 (indicates the effort and application of physical or mental force required in investigation)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 甚 (original sound: shén / kan)

An investigator applies mental and physical force (力) combined with meticulous scrutiny (甚) to examine the facts.

甚 provides the phonetic clue and sense of depth/extremeness
力 provides the semantic sense of effort and force

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

8· Phonetic Root: 甚 (shén)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from 甚 (shén, deep/extreme) and 力 (lì, strength), originally representing the deep application of effort to inspect or scrutinize things.

Semantic Evolution: Shifted from general meticulous checking to specialized surveying, investigating crime scenes, and collating ancient documents.

Often used in official administrative and surveying contexts in ancient China.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

kham

Matches level tone entries.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: カン

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

감

Sound Shift Bridge: The initial k- and final -an match cognate tendencies in neighboring Sinosphere languages.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

To investigate (勘) a crime scene, the detective uses maximum EFFORT (力) and EXTREME (甚) attention to detail.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

甚

shénvariant of 什[shen2]Phonetic Core (声旁)

斟

zhēnto pour+ 斗 (dipper)

戡

kānkill; suppress+ 戈 (halberd)

椹

shènvariant of 葚[shen4]+ 木 (tree)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

甚(shén)

Lacks the right-side 力 power radical.

堪(kān)

Replaces the power radical with the earth radical (土), meaning to be able to endure.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

警察正在现场[___]案情。

Clue: kān

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing 勘 (kān) with 堪 (kān) due to identical pronunciation, ignoring that 勘 involves investigation (力的 force) while 堪 involves endurance (土 earth).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does 勘 mean and how is its phonetic part structured?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to investigate' (kān) combining 甚 and 力?

勘kānto investigate

Speed:

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