Chinese word dictionary

沾染

zhān rǎn · to pollute (often fig.); to be infected by; to gain a small advantage

Practice word

Word information

Simplified沾染

Traditional沾染

Pinyinzhān rǎn

Part of speechDictionary

HSK 3.0Not listed

HSK 2.0Not listed

Character breakdown

Study each Hanzi separately, then return to the complete word so pronunciation, meaning, and movement stay connected.

沾zhān

to moisten, to soak, to wet; to touch

染rǎn

dye; to catch; to infect; to be contagious

How to learn 沾染

Listen once without reading, repeat the pinyin with its tones, then write every character in sequence. Finally, recall the complete meaning instead of memorizing each character as an isolated translation.

When the word appears in a sentence, check whether its part of speech and meaning match the definition shown here. Chinese words can change nuance with context.

Related vocabulary

Words with the same characters

Compare how a familiar Hanzi changes meaning inside another word.

污染wūrǎn

(lit. and fig.) to pollute; to contaminate

传染chuánrǎn

to infect; contagious

传染病chuánrǎnbìng

infectious disease; contagious disease; communicable disease

感染gǎnrǎn

to infect; infection; (fig.) to influence

染rǎn

to dye; to catch (a disease); to acquire (bad habits etc); to contaminate; to add color washes to a painting

沾zhān

to moisten; to be infected by; to receive benefit or advantage through a contact; to touch; variant of 沾[zhan1]; to moisten