HSK 3 · Places

南 nán “South” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 南 means

  1. South

How to say 南

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale南nán2nd tone, rising

南 in a sentence

  1. 最大的卧室朝南。

    Zuì dà de wòshì cháo nán.

    The biggest bedroom faces south.

    Sentence #1454453 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 南方和北方的差异很大。

    Nánfāng hé běifāng de chāyì hěn dà.

    The south and the north are very different.

    Sentence #12422361 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 澳洲比南美洲小。

    Àozhōu bǐ Nánměizhōu xiǎo.

    Australia is smaller than South America.

    Sentence #333155 from Tatoeba

How 南 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 南 (nán) with each of its parts in a different colour
南nánsouth
  • 十ten · shí
  • 冂down box · jiōng
  • 丷eight form of 八 · bā
  • 干dry · gān

How to write 南

南 9 strokes

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

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

Words related to 南

Words with 南

南方nánfāng · the south西南xīnán · southwest东南dōngnán · southeast指南针zhǐnánzhēn · compass南辕北辙nányuánběizhé · to act in a way that defeats one’s purpose

More words: Places & Directions

国家guójiā · country黄河huánghé · Yellow River街道jiēdào · street楼lóu · story世界shìjiè · world图书馆túshūguǎn · library西xī · West洗手间xǐshǒujiān · toilet

FAQs

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