山 shān — mountain, hill

Pinyin

• shān (first tone, high and level)

mountain, hill

Character breakdown

• 山shape partA single pictograph: three peaks rising from one base.

Mnemonic

Three peaks on a single base, the middle one tallest — a range drawn against the sky, and one of the few characters that still looks like the thing it names. It stands alone in 爬山, "to climb a mountain", and joins fire to make 火山, a volcano. Set above another character it flattens out, as it does on top of 岁.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.

Words containing 山

• 山shān (first tone, high and level)mountain; hill
• 爬山páshān (second tone, rising)to climb a mountain, to go hiking
• 山顶/山頂shān (first tone, high and level) dǐng (third tone, dipping)hilltop
• 山谷shān (first tone, high and level) gǔ (third tone, dipping)valley
• 山区/山區shān (first tone, high and level) qū (first tone, high and level)mountain area
• 火山huǒ (third tone, dipping) shān (first tone, high and level)volcano
• 雪山xuě (third tone, dipping) shān (first tone, high and level)snow-capped mountain
• 登山dēng (first tone, high and level) shān (first tone, high and level)to climb a mountain
• 高山gāo (first tone, high and level) shān (first tone, high and level)high mountain; alpine mountain
• 山坡shān (first tone, high and level) pō (first tone, high and level)hillside
• 冰山bīng (first tone, high and level) shān (first tone, high and level)iceberg
• 山路shān (first tone, high and level) lù (fourth tone, falling)mountain road
• 下山xià (fourth tone, falling) shān (first tone, high and level)to go down a hill
• 山脉/山脈shān (first tone, high and level) mài (fourth tone, falling)mountain range
• 山峰shān (first tone, high and level) fēng (first tone, high and level)(mountain) peak
• 山寨shān (first tone, high and level) zhài (fourth tone, falling)fortified hill village
• 山川shān (first tone, high and level) chuān (first tone, high and level)mountains and rivers
• 出山chū (first tone, high and level) shān (first tone, high and level)to leave the mountain (of a hermit)
• 山岭/山嶺shān (first tone, high and level) lǐng (third tone, dipping)mountain ridge
• 愚公移山yú (second tone, rising) gōng (first tone, high and level) yí (second tone, rising) shān (first tone, high and level)the old man moves mountains (idiom); fig. where there's a will, there's a way
• 山冈/山岡shān (first tone, high and level) gāng (first tone, high and level)mound
• 侃大山kǎn (third tone, dipping) dà (fourth tone, falling) shān (first tone, high and level)to chatter idly