Dictionary › 干

干

gān

HSK 4 Character Traditional 乾

What 干 means

1. dry
2. dried food
3. empty; hollow
4. taken in to nominal kinship; adoptive; foster
5. futile; in vain
6. dialectrude; blunt
7. dialectto cold-shoulder

Other readings

干 is 多音字 — it is read more than one way, and the reading changes the meaning.

• gānto have to do with; to concern oneself with; one of the ten heavenly stems {天干|tiān gān};
• gàntree trunk; main part of sth; to manage
• Gānsurname Gan
• Gānsurname Gan
• gānold variant of {干|gān}
• gānvariant of {干|gān}

Example sentences

• 干杯！
  Gānbēi!
  Cheers!
• 干杯!
  Gānbēi!
  Cheers!
• 干洗吧。
  Gānxǐ ba.
  Dry clean it.
• 干你妈！
  Fuck you!
• 干你娘。
  Fuck your mom.
• 干的好！
  Well done!

Words starting with 干

• 干净gān jìngclean; neat
• 干燥gān zào(of weather, climate, soil etc) dry; arid; (of skin, mouth etc) dry; (fig.) dull; dry…
• 干杯gān bēito drink a toast; Cheers! (proposing a toast); Here's to you!
• 干脆gān cuìcandid; direct and to the point; simply
• 干部gàn bùcadre; official; officer
• 干扰gān rǎoto disturb; to interfere; perturbation
• 干预gān yùto meddle; to intervene; intervention
• 干涉gān shèto interfere; to meddle; interference
• 干旱gān hàndrought; (of land, climate etc) arid; dry
• 干劲gàn jìnenthusiasm for doing sth
• 干什么gàn shén mewhat are you doing?; what's he up to?
• 干嘛gàn máwhat are you doing?; whatever for?; why on earth?
• 干活gàn huóto work; to be employed
• 干警gàn jǐngpolice; police cadres
• 干事gàn shiadministrator; executive secretary
• 干掉gàn diàoto get rid of
• 干校gàn xiàoschool for cadres; May 7 Cadre School 五七干校
• 干粮gān liángrations (to take on expedition)
• 干涸gān héto dry up
• 干枯gān kūwithered; shriveled; dried-up
• 干练gàn liàncapable and experienced
• 干草gān cǎohay
• 干线gàn xiànmain line; trunk line
• 干瘪gān biědried out; wizened; shriveled

Words containing 干

• 饼干bǐng gānbiscuit; cracker; cookie
• 能干néng gàncapable; competent
• 若干ruò gāna certain number or amount; how many?; how much?
• 骨干gǔ gàndiaphysis (long segment of a bone); fig. backbone
• 才干cái gànability; competence
• 树干shù gàntree trunk
• 擦干cā gānto wipe dry
• 不相干bù xiāng gānto be irrelevant; to have nothing to do with
• 一干二净yī gān èr jìngthoroughly (idiom); completely; one and all
• 高干gāo gànhigh cadre; top party member
• 晒干shài gānto dry in the sun
• 新干线Xīn gàn xiànShinkansen, Japan's high-speed rail network; Shinkansen train
• 主干zhǔ gàntrunk; main; core
• 相干xiāng gānrelevant; to have to do with; (physics) (of light etc) coherent
• 风干fēng gānto air-dry; to season (timber etc); air-dried
• 大干dà gànto go all out; to work energetically
• 口干舌燥kǒu gān shé zàolit. dry mouth and tongue (idiom); to talk too much
• 精干jīng gàncrack (troops); special (forces); highly capable
• 天干tiān gānthe 10 heavenly stems 甲
• 苦干kǔ gànto work hard
• 埋头苦干mái tóu kǔ gànto bury oneself in work (idiom); to be engrossed in work; to make an all-out effort…
• 烘干hōng gānto dry over a stove
• 晾干liàng gānto dry (sth) by airing
• 包干bāo gānto have the full responsibility of a job; allocated task

Characters that look like 干

Easy to confuse on sight. Compare them side by side once and the pair stops costing you.

• 千qiānthousand
• 于yúto go; to take; sentence-final interrogative particle
• 子zinoun suffix, as in 椅子
• 予yǔ(literary) to give

Sounds the same

Read gān, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 甘(bound form) sweet; pleasant (contrasted with 苦; to be willing (to do sth)
• 尴used in 尴尬
• 肝liver; (slang) to put in long hours, typically late into the night, playing…
• 杆(bound form) pole; shaft
• 竿(bound form) pole; rod
• 柑large tangerine
• 苷licorice; glycoside
• 咁so (Cantonese); Mandarin equivalent: 这样
• 酐anhydride
• 坩crucible
• 矸used in 矸石
• 泔slop from rinsing rice