干
Simplified干Traditional干/乾/幹Strokes3Radical干HSK1Frequencyvery common; among the most frequently used few hundred characters in modern Chinese
干 is one of the trickiest simplified characters because it stands in for three separate traditional characters: 干 itself (meaning shield, or to interfere/offend), 乾 (dry), and 幹 (trunk, main stem, or to do/work). Learners meet it constantly in words like 干净 (clean), 干杯 (cheers), and 干什么 (what are you doing). In traditional text you'll see 乾 or 幹 instead, depending on the meaning intended.
Readings
Mandaringān · ㄍㄢ
Cantonesegon1 · gōn
A second reading gàn (Jyutping gon3, Yale gon) is used for the 'to do/work' and 'trunk, main stem' senses, corresponding to traditional 幹. The 'dry' sense (traditional 乾) is read gān/gon1 in modern Mandarin and Cantonese, but note 乾 has an unrelated second reading qián used in the Yijing trigram name and words like 乾坤.
Meanings
- adjective/verb dry; to dry out (traditional 乾)
- verb to do, to work, to be engaged in (gàn; traditional 幹)
- noun trunk, main stem, or the main part of something (gàn; traditional 幹), as in 树干 tree trunk
- verb to interfere with, to offend, to have to do with (original meaning of 干), as in 相干, 干涉
- noun shield; a weapon-like forked pole (archaic/original meaning)
Other pronunciations
- gàn to do, to work; trunk or main stem (simplified form of 幹); also 'cadre' as in 干部
How it is built
pictograph
Radical 干. shield / dry stem (its own Kangxi radical, number 51)
- 干meaning The whole character is a single pictograph; it is not composed of separate meaningful parts.
Origin
The oracle-bone and bronze forms of 干 show a forked stick or pole, generally understood to depict a simple weapon or shield used in ancient combat — hence old compounds like 干戈 ('shields and spears', i.e. warfare). From 'shield/weapon used to ward off' the meaning extended to 'to offend, to interfere with' (干犯, 干涉). The character was later borrowed phonetically to write the unrelated word 'dry', which had its own character 乾. In 20th-century script simplification, 幹 (trunk, to do) and 乾 (dry) were both merged into 干 for most uses, though 乾 is kept in traditional writing and in the name of the Yijing trigram (乾坤).
Remembering it
Picture the three strokes as a simple forked pole stuck in the ground — a rough weapon or a bare, dried-out stick. That bare, leafless-stick image covers both the old 'shield/pole' sense and the borrowed 'dry' sense.
Words using it
干净gānjìng · gon1 zeng6clean 干燥gānzào · gon1 cou3dry, arid 饼干bǐnggān · beng2 gon1biscuit, cookie 干杯gānbēi · gon1 bui1cheers! (a toast) 干活gànhuó · gon3 wut6to work, to do manual labor 干嘛gànmá · gon3 maa1what for?, why on earth 干部gànbù · gon3 bou6cadre, official 相干xiānggān · soeng1 gon1relevant, to have to do with 若干ruògān · joek6 gon1a certain amount, some 干扰gānrǎo · gon1 jiu5to interfere, to disturb In a sentence
Zhè jiàn yīfu gān le ma?
Is this piece of clothing dry yet?
Nǐ zài gàn shénme?
What are you doing?
Zhè jiàn shì gēn wǒ bù xiānggān.
This matter has nothing to do with me.
Tā měitiān dōu yào gànhuó.
He has to work every day.
Usage
Because simplified script merged 乾 (dry) and 幹 (trunk/to do) into 干, the same character can mean quite different things depending on context and reading — gān for 'dry/shield-related' senses, gàn for 'to do/trunk' senses. Traditional-script readers will see 乾淨 vs 幹活 clearly distinguished, but simplified-script readers must infer meaning from context. Note also that 乾 has an unrelated reading qián (as in 乾坤, the cosmic principles of heaven and earth) that has nothing to do with 'dry' or with the simplified 干.
Context
干 appears in 干支 (gānzhī), the 'Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches' system used for centuries in the Chinese calendar, astrology, and dating years (as in the sexagenary cycle) — one of the more historically significant uses of the character outside its everyday meanings.