HSK 6 · Media

散文 sǎnwén “prose” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 散文 means

  1. prose
  2. essay
  3. (broadly) prose (as opposed to verse)
  4. (more narrowly) free-form literary prose, such as essays, sketches and reflections

How to say 散文

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale散sǎn3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale文wén2nd tone, rising

散文 in a sentence

  1. 他不是诗人；他写的是散文。

    Tā búshì shīrén; tā xiě de shì sǎnwén.

    He isn’t a poet; he writes prose.

    Sentence #799239 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 散文 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.

The character 散 (sàn) drawn as one shape
散sǎnscattered

散 is a single shape of 12 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

The character 文 (wén) with each of its parts in a different colour
文wénlanguage
  • 亠lid · tóu
  • 乂to govern · yì

Memory aidDrawn from a person with a pattern on the chest. It came to mean writing and culture.

How to write 散文

散 12 strokes · 文 4 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

散文 (sǎnwén) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 散文 (sǎnwén). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 散文

Words with 散

散步sànbù · to take a walk分散fēnsàn · to scatter解散jiěsàn · to dissolve扩散kuòsàn · to spread散布sànbù · to spread散发sànfā · to give off

Words with 文

中文Zhōngwén · Chinese language文化wénhuà · culture课文kèwén · text (of a lesson)文章wénzhāng · article文明wénmíng · civilised论文lùnwén · paper文字wénzì · writing作文zuòwén · to write an essay文件wénjiàn · document文学wénxué · literature

More words: Media & Arts

排练páiliàn · to rehearse情节qíngjié · plot启事qǐshì · notice曲子qǔzi · tune声明shēngmíng · statement审美shěnměi · aesthetic时事shíshì · current affairs书法shūfǎ · calligraphy

FAQs

散文 (sǎnwén) means “prose” or “essay”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it sǎnwén: sǎn with a 3rd tone, then wén with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 散文 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type sanwen with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 散文 from the suggestions. Typing sanwen into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
散文 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

Turn words into conversations

A dictionary gives you the words. A native teacher shows you how to use them. Start with a free 30-minute intro call.

Book a free intro call

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.