甘
contributes the sense of sweetness and good taste · Kangxi radical 99
contributes the sense of sweetness and good taste, though in most characters it just supplies the sound gan/han/qian
The old graph is a mouth with a short stroke inside it, marking something held on the tongue and savored — sweetness shown as a thing in the mouth rather than as an object. The modern shape keeps exactly that: a squarish mouth outline with one small horizontal floating inside it. You can see the eating sense in 甜 (sweet, tongue plus 甘) and 酣 (drinking one's fill), while in 柑, 蚶, 邯, 钳 and 疳 it is only a sound clue. In 其, 某 and 甚 the boxy top is not really 甘 at all but an unrelated shape that flattened into the same form.
甘 at a glance
- Meaning
- contributes the sense of sweetness and good taste
- Strokes
- 5
- Characters
- 19
- Role
- Contributes meaning and sound
- Kangxi radical
- 99
Characters with 甘 (17 of 19)
HSK 3 · 2
HSK 5 · 1
Beyond HSK · 14
Frequently asked questions
What does the component 甘 mean?
甘 means "contributes the sense of sweetness and good taste". In the characters that contain it, it contributes meaning and sound.
How many Chinese characters contain 甘?
19 characters in this dictionary contain 甘, including ones at HSK 3, HSK 5.
Is 甘 a radical?
Yes — 甘 is Kangxi radical 99, one of the 214 traditional indexing radicals used to organise Chinese dictionaries.
How many strokes does 甘 have?
甘 is written in 5 strokes.