田 tián — a field, cultivated land; Tian, a surname

Pinyin

• tián (second tone, rising)

a field, cultivated land; Tian, a surname

Character breakdown

• 田shape partA single pictograph, and a radical in its own right: a plot of ground seen from above, quartered by its paths.

Mnemonic

A plot of ground seen from overhead, cut into four by the paths and channels running through it. It heads its own section of the dictionary, and everything under it has to do with worked land: 男, the plough in the field; 界, a boundary; 留, to stay on. Keep the frame square and the cross exactly centred — pull it about and you have 由 or 甲.

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 田

No published word on HSK Guide uses this character yet. Search the dictionary.

Radical 田 — other characters

• 电/電diàn (fourth tone, falling)electricity; lightning; a telegram; to give an electric shock
• 男nán (second tone, rising)man, male