HSK 5 · Body
传染 chuánrǎn “to infect” in Chinese
Traditional 傳染
What 传染 means
- to infect
- contagious
How to say 传染
传chuán2nd tone, rising
染rǎn3rd tone, dipping
传染 in a sentence
How 传染 is built
Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

传chuánto pass on
- 亻person form of 人 · rénMeaning part
- 专concentrated · zhuānSound part
亻 hints at the meaning (person); 专 (zhuān) hints at the sound. Compare it with chuán.

染rǎnto dye
- 氿spring · guǐ
- 木tree · mù
How to write 传染
传 6 strokes · 染 9 strokes
Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

Words related to 传染
Words with 传
传真chuánzhēn · fax宣传xuānchuán · to publicise传播chuánbō · to disseminate流传liúchuán · to spread传统chuántǒng · tradition传说chuánshuō · legend遗传yíchuán · genetic传达chuándá · to convey传授chuánshòu · to teach传单chuándān · leaflet
Words with 染
More words: People, Body & Health
FAQs
传染 (chuánrǎn) means “to infect” or “contagious”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it chuánrǎn: chuán with a 2nd tone, then rǎn with a 3rd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 传染 is written 傳染. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type chuanran with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 传染 from the suggestions. Typing chuanran into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
传染 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.
Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.