HSK 5 · Nature

煤炭 méitàn “coal” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 煤炭 means

  1. coal

How to say 煤炭

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale煤méi2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale炭tàn4th tone, falling

煤炭 in a sentence

  1. 澳大利亚是世界第五大煤炭产地。

    Àodàlìyà shì shìjiè dìwǔ dà méitàn chǎndì.

    Australia is the world’s fifth-largest coal producer.

    Sentence #5551026 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 煤炭 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 煤 (méi) with each of its parts in a different colour
煤méicoal
  • 火fire · huǒMeaning part
  • 某some · mǒuSound part

火 hints at the meaning (fire); 某 (mǒu) hints at the sound. Compare it with méi.

The character 炭 (tàn) with each of its parts in a different colour
炭tànwood charcoal
  • 山mountain · shānSound part
  • 灰ashes · huīMeaning part

灰 hints at the meaning (ashes); 山 (shān) hints at the sound. Compare it with tàn.

How to write 煤炭

煤 13 strokes · 炭 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 煤炭

More words: Nature & Environment

昆虫kūnchóng · insect老鼠lǎoshǔ · rat龙lóng · dragon陆地lùdì · dry land (as opposed to the sea)蜜蜂mìfēng · bee能源néngyuán · energy沙漠shāmò · desert沙滩shātān · beach

FAQs

煤炭 (méitàn) means “coal”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it méitàn: méi with a 2nd 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. 煤炭 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type meitan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 煤炭 from the suggestions. Typing meitan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
煤炭 is an HSK 5 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 from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.