diǎn spot; moment; dot

Made up of [ huǒ fire (as radical) radical 86, zhān to observe; to divine ]
Alternative traditional form of character:
Made with 9 strokes.
The present fire radical has replaced 'black' in the old form, suggests a black spot in divination but zhan is also a rough phonetic
Ancient small seal form Small seal

Related characters


Also uses huǒ component: chǎo (to sauté) hēi (black) zhào (according to) zhēng (to steam) zhǔ (to cook)
Also uses zhān component: diàn (shop) tiē (to stick) zhàn (station) zhàn (to fight) zhān (to glue) zuān (to drill)

Different tone

diàn (shop) diàn (electric)

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Pronunciation

Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License

stroke order for 点
Stroke order for character 点, kindly provided under Wikimedia creative commons license

Proverbs

点石成金 diǎn shí chéng jīn To turn something of little worth into something of great value
雷声大,雨点小 léi shēng dà, yǔ diǎn xiǎo Overly portentous. Reality does not match expectations
煽风点火 shān fēng diǎn huǒ Create a lot of trouble
画龙点睛 huà lóng diǎn jīng Make the final vital addition to complete something. Add finishing touches. The story is of a great painter who painted four dragons without completing the eyes. When challenged he claimed that it was to ensure they did not come to life and fly away. When pressured he drew in the eyes of two dragons and they promptly came to life and flew away.

Phrases

bā diǎn shí fēn 10 past 8