HSK 6 · Science

勘探 kāntàn “to explore” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 勘探 means

  1. to explore
  2. to survey (for minerals)
  3. to survey
  4. to prospect (for oil etc)
  5. prospecting

How to say 勘探

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale勘kān1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale探tàn4th tone, falling

勘探 in a sentence

  1. 他们在这个地区勘探石油。

    Tāmen zài zhè ge dìqū kāntàn shíyóu.

    They’re surveying this area for oil.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 勘探队在山里工作了一个月。

    Kāntàn duì zài shān lǐ gōngzuò le yí ge yuè.

    The survey team worked in the mountains for a month.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 勘探 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 勘 (kān) with each of its parts in a different colour
勘kānto investigate
  • 甚considerably · shènSound part
  • 力strength · lìMeaning part

力 hints at the meaning (strength); 甚 (shèn) hints at the sound. Compare it with kān.

The character 探 (tàn) drawn as one shape
探tànto explore

探 is a single shape of 11 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

How to write 勘探

勘 11 strokes · 探 11 strokes

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

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

Words related to 勘探

Words with 探

探索tànsuǒ · to explore探讨tàntǎo · to discuss探望tànwàng · to visit (esp. someone ill or elderly)侦探zhēntàn · detective探测tàncè · to detect

More words: Science & Technology

进化jìnhuà · evolution酒精jiǔjīng · alcohol机械jīxiè · machinery基因jīyīn · gene雷达léidá · radar冷却lěngquè · to cool down立方lìfāng · cube密度mìdù · density

FAQs

勘探 (kāntàn) means “to explore” or “to survey (for minerals)”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it kāntàn: kān with a 1st tone, then tàn with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 勘探 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kantan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 勘探 from the suggestions. Typing kantan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
勘探 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.