碳 (tàn) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

碳

tàn[tan4]Tone 4

carbon

HSK 7

Guru Deep Dive

English · carbon

Cached lesson

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:13

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (the radical 石) should be compact and narrower, while the right side (炭) provides the main structural weight and must balance neatly without crowding.

1. Meaning

carbon (chemical element, atomic number 6)

coal or charcoal derivatives in specialized technical contexts

NounFormal#chemistry#science#elements

Sample Usage

碳排放是全球变暖的主要原因之一。
tàn pái fàng shì quán qiú biàn nuǎn de zhǔ yào yuán yīn zhī yī.
Carbon emissions are one of the main causes of global warming.
这种材料含有高浓度的碳。
zhè zhǒng cái liào hán yǒu gāo nóng dù de tàn.
This material contains a high concentration of carbon.

2. Sound

/[tʰän⁵¹]/Tone: 51

碳

tàntan4

`(51)

=tàn

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

tan

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 Alveolar

Sounds like: t sound as in English 'top'

Aspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Explosive puff of breath! Tissue held before mouth MUST flutter.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge behind the upper front teeth, releasing a burst of air.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -an rhymes with 'on' or 'un' in bun, but with a more open 'a' vowel

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

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

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts at pitch 5 and plunges to pitch 1, comparable to a sharp 'No!' or a stern downward command in English.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the sharp falling Tone 4 (tàn) with Tone 1 (tān) or Tone 2 (tán). Make sure the pitch drops decisively from high to low.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: Tone 4 starts high and drops sharply to the floor like a quick nod of agreement or an authoritative command.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 13 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (the radical 石) should be compact and narrower, while the right side (炭) provides the main structural weight and must balance neatly without crowding.

4. Components

Radical 石 · Stone Radical (stone, rock, mineral)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 石 (Indicates that carbon is a mineral/substance related to rocks and earth.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 炭 (original sound: tàn)

The stone radical (石) on the left pairs with charcoal (炭) on the right, uniting the concept of mineral matter with the black combustible substance extracted from the earth.

石 Stone radical (semantic clue indicating mineral substance)
炭 Charcoal/carbon phonetic and meaning element

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

2· Phonetic Root: 炭 (tàn)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Created as modern chemistry entered China, combining the stone element (石) with the phonetic and semantic base for charcoal (炭) to denote the chemical element carbon.

Semantic Evolution: Originally derived from the character for charcoal (炭), the addition of the stone radical (石) specifically elevated it to represent the foundational chemical element carbon in modern scientific nomenclature.

Modern chemical terminology often created new characters by combining existing semantic classifiers with established phonetic elements.

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

thán

Matches the Chinese falling tone structure closely with a sharp falling Vietnamese drop.

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: タン

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

탄

Sound Shift Bridge: Cognate with Sino-Xenisms preserving the ancient root for charcoal/carbon.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Picture a heavy **stone** (石) block burning into black **charcoal** and pure **carbon** (碳) under extreme subterranean pressure.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

炭

tàncharcoal / coalPhonetic Core (声旁)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

炭(tàn)

炭 refers to charcoal/coal, whereas 碳 explicitly includes the stone radical (石) to denote the chemical element carbon.

探(tàn)

探 uses the hand radical (扌) because it means to explore or reach out, unlike 碳 which uses the stone radical (石).

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

减[___]排放是应对全球气候变化的关键。

Clue: tàn

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing 碳 (carbon) with 汤 (soup) or other similarly sounding syllables due to the final '-an' versus '-ang' mixups.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What chemical element does the character 碳 represent, and what is its radical?

Production: How do you write the character for 'carbon' (tàn), combining stone and charcoal?

碳tàncarbon

Speed:

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