What does 蛋 mean in Chinese?

蛋 (dàn) means "egg" in Chinese. The new HSK exam expects you to recognise it at HSK 1.

How do you write 蛋?

蛋 is written with 11 strokes, starting from the 虫 (insect) radical and following standard Chinese stroke order (top to bottom, left to right). See the interactive stroke-order tool for the full animation.

What is the radical of 蛋?

The radical of 蛋 is 虫 (insect, Kangxi radical #142). Other common HSK characters using the same radical include 虫.

How many strokes does 蛋 have?

The Chinese character 蛋 has 11 strokes.

What HSK level is 蛋?

On the new HSK exam syllabus, 蛋 is a character to recognise at HSK 1.

蛋 (dàn): Meaning, Stroke Order, Radical & Examples

蛋

dàn

egg

HSK 1 character 11 strokes Radical: 虫 (insect)

Quick Answer

蛋 (dàn) means "egg" with 11 strokes, radical 虫 (insect), HSK 1 on the new exam.

Full dictionary entry for 蛋 →Animated stroke-order for 蛋 →

Pronunciation

dàn

Meaning

Primary: egg

Etymology

Oracle-bone origin

蛋 has no oracle bone or bronze form and is a relatively late character, not appearing clearly until the medieval period. It is a semantic compound: the top 疋 (originally a foot, but here functioning as a phonetic/graphic element) sits above 虫 (insect, small creature), the radical used for many egg-laying animals like snakes, fish, and reptiles. The combination suggests something laid by a small creature.

Form evolution

Early texts used other words for egg, including 卵. 蛋 emerges in Song and Yuan vernacular writing and stabilises in Ming-Qing colloquial texts. There is no seal or clerical form in the classical canon; the modern regular-script shape has been essentially fixed since the Ming.

How the meaning evolved

The original sense was an egg, especially a bird or reptile egg, in contrast to the more literary 卵. In modern Mandarin 蛋 is the everyday word for egg (鸡蛋 chicken egg, 鸭蛋 duck egg) and also anything egg-shaped (脸蛋 cheek, face). It further serves as an insult suffix, as in 笨蛋 (fool) and 坏蛋 (bad guy), a colloquial use that only developed in the last few centuries.

Cultural note

The split between literary 卵 and colloquial 蛋 is still alive: biology textbooks use 卵 for ova and eggs in a technical sense, while kitchen Chinese uses 蛋. Calling someone 坏蛋 is strong in writing but fairly mild in speech, a gap that trips up learners who translate it as the harsher English equivalents.

Mnemonic

An insect produces something round — egg

Decomposition

蛋=疋component+虫radical

Breaking a character into its components makes it far easier to recall. Each component above links to its own detail page.

Basic info

Pinyin	dàn
Meanings	egg
Stroke count	11 strokes
Radical	虫 (#142: insect)
New HSK exam	Recognise at HSK 1
Frequency	#488 most common

Example sentences

我吃鸡蛋。
Wǒ chī jīdàn.
I eat eggs.
From 鸡蛋 (HSK 1)
生日蛋糕很好吃。
Shēngrì dàngāo hěn hǎochī.
The birthday cake is delicious.
From 蛋糕 (HSK 3)
早餐我吃了两个鸡蛋。
Zǎocān wǒ chī le liǎng gè jīdàn.
I ate two eggs for breakfast.
From 蛋