Learn Chinese Characters 065 甘

by Caren Zuo
甘 （gān）

Compare the characters “甘” with  “口”.

甘 (sweet)


口 (mouth)

In the oracle-bone scripts, the character  “甘” only has one more stroke called “héng” (a horizontal stroke from left to right)than the character“口”. The stroke “héng” here represents something kept in a mouth. When we eat something sweet, we would like to cherish every second to taste it in the mouth and do not want to swallow it. The character “甘” originally means “sweet” or “honey”, which is the predominant meaning of the character today.

Useful Phrase:

Level One:
甘甜 （gān tián）sweet, honey

Level Two；
心甘情愿 （xīn gān qíng yuàn）also “甘心情愿”, willingly and gladly

不甘落后 （bù gān luò hòu）refuse to trail behind

同甘共苦 （tóng gān gònɡ kǔ）share joys and sorrows

甘心 （gān xīn）be ready to, be content with