HSK 6 · Verbs

扩散 kuòsàn “to spread” in Chinese

Traditional 擴散

What 扩散 means

  1. to spread
  2. to diffuse
  3. to proliferate

How to say 扩散

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale扩kuò4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale散sàn4th tone, falling

扩散 in a sentence

  1. 香味很快扩散到了整个房间。

    Xiāngwèi hěn kuài kuòsàn dào le zhěng ge fángjiān.

    The smell quickly spread through the whole room.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 消息很快就扩散开了。

    Xiāoxi hěn kuài jiù kuòsàn kāi le.

    The news soon spread.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 扩散 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 扩 (kuò) with each of its parts in a different colour
扩kuòto enlarge
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuSound part
  • 广shelter · guǎngMeaning part

广 hints at the meaning (shelter); 扌 (shǒu) hints at the sound. Compare it with kuò.

The character 散 (sàn) drawn as one shape
散sànto scatter

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

How to write 扩散

扩 6 strokes · 散 12 strokes

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

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

Words related to 扩散

Words with 扩

扩大kuòdà · to expand扩充kuòchōng · to expand扩张kuòzhāng · to expand

Words with 散

散步sànbù · to take a walk分散fēnsàn · to scatter解散jiěsàn · to dissolve散布sànbù · to spread散发sànfā · to give off散文sǎnwén · prose

More words: Common Verbs

款待kuǎndài · to entertain (guests)亏待kuīdài · to treat unfairly捆绑kǔnbǎng · to tie up扩充kuòchōng · to expand扩张kuòzhāng · to expand捞lāo · to fish out晾liàng · to dry in the air or sun淋lín · to drench

FAQs

扩散 (kuòsàn) means “to spread” or “to diffuse”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it kuòsàn: kuò with a 4th tone, then sàn with a 4th 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, 扩散 is written 擴散. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type kuosan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 扩散 from the suggestions. Typing kuosan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
扩散 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.