HSK 5 · Verbs

拦 lán “to block” in Chinese

Traditional 攔

What 拦 means

  1. to block
  2. to stop (someone or something)
  3. to block sb’s path
  4. to obstruct
  5. to flag down (a taxi)

How to say 拦

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale拦lán2nd tone, rising

拦 in a sentence

  1. 暴风雨过后，那条路被倒下来的树拦住了。

    Bàofēngyǔ guòhòu, nà tiáo lù bèi dǎo xiàlai de shù lánzhù le.

    After the storm, the road was blocked by fallen trees.

    Sentence #10581703 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 我拦不住汤姆把饼干吃完。

    Wǒ lán bu zhù Tāngmǔ bǎ bǐnggān chīwán.

    I couldn’t stop Tom from eating all the biscuits.

    Sentence #5694522 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 拦 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 拦 (lán) with each of its parts in a different colour
拦lánto block sb’s path
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 兰orchid · lánSound part

扌 hints at the meaning (hand); 兰 (lán) hints at the sound. Compare it with lán.

How to write 拦

拦 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 拦

Words with 拦

阻拦zǔlán · to stop

More words: Common Verbs

砍kǎn · to chop克kè · gram克服kèfú · to overcome (difficulties)控制kòngzhì · to control利用lìyòng · to make use of联合liánhé · to combine流传liúchuán · to spread漏lòu · to leak

FAQs

拦 (lán) means “to block” or “to stop (someone or something)”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it lán: lán with a 2nd 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, 拦 is written 攔. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type lan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 拦 from the suggestions. Typing lan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
拦 is an HSK 5 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.