蒜 (suàn) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

蒜

suàn[suan4]Tone 4

garlic

HSK 7

Guru Deep Dive

English · garlic

Cached lesson

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Topology:Top-bottom

Strokes:13

Writing Balance Rule: The top bamboo radical (⺮) must be compressed slightly and balanced evenly over the complex lower phonetic part (算).

1. Meaning

garlic

bulb of garlicgarlic clove

NounNeutral#food#plants#vegetables#condiments

Sample Usage

炒菜的时候多放一点蒜。
chǎo cài de shíhou duō fàng yīdiǎn suàn.
Put a bit more garlic when stir-frying dishes.
他剥了几个蒜瓣准备做饭。
tā bō le jǐ gè suàn bàn zhǔnbèi zuòfàn.
He peeled a few cloves of garlic to get ready for cooking.

2. Sound

/[su̯än⁵¹]/Tone: 51

蒜

suànsuan4

`(51)

=suàn

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

suan

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: Dental Fricative

Sounds like: s sound like in 'snake'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Clear, steady sibilant hiss.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tip of the tongue rests gently behind the lower front teeth while air escapes through a narrow gap.

Final Rhyme

uan

Vowel Group: -a vowel group

Sounds like: -uan rhymes with 'swan'

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

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 high and plunges sharply to the bottom, just like saying 'No!' or 'Stop!' in English.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing the flat sibilant 's-' with the retroflex 'sh-'. Make sure your tongue stays behind your lower front teeth.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, definitive chop downward with your hand, like dropping a heavy garlic bulb onto a cutting board.

3. Writing

Topology: Top-bottom · Strokes: 13 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The top bamboo radical (⺮) must be compressed slightly and balanced evenly over the complex lower phonetic part (算).

4. Components

Radical ⺮ · Bamboo radical (bamboo)

Semantic Clue (形旁): ⺮ (Indicates that garlic is a plant / herb.)

Phonetic Clue (声旁): 算 (original sound: suàn)

The bamboo radical (⺮) sits on top of the character for calculate/count (算), representing a pungent plant traditionally bundled or calculated in bundles.

⺮ Bamboo / Plant classifier
算 Phonetic clue providing the sound 'suàn'

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

2· Phonetic Root: 祘 (suàn)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Combined from the bamboo radical ⺮ (classifying plants) and 算 (suàn, providing the sound and an old association with counting or reckoning items).

Semantic Evolution: Originally referred to various pungent bulb plants before specializing specifically in garlic.

Garlic was introduced to China from western regions via the Silk Road during the Han Dynasty.

6. Sinosphere

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

Imagine hanging bundles of **garlic** (suàn) from **bamboo** (⺮) poles while you **calculate** (算) how many cloves you need for dinner.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

祘

suànvariant of 算[suan4], to calculatePhonetic Core (声旁)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

算(suàn)

算 means to calculate and lacks the bamboo radical (⺮) on top.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

做红烧肉的时候一定要放大葱和[___]。

Clue: suàn

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the tone with Tone 1 or Tone 3, or forgetting the bamboo radical on top when writing by hand.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What vegetable does 蒜 represent and how is it pronounced with tones?

Production: How do you write the character for 'garlic' (suàn) combining bamboo and calculation?

蒜suàngarlic

Speed:

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