How to Write 坩 (gān) — Meaning “crucible (component)”

Picture a sweet (甘) candy made of clay (土) that you can melt in a crucible — the candy looks like a little bowl. Alternatively, imagine a clay pot (土) that is so sweet (甘) it can hold molten gold. The sound "gān" matches the first syllable of "gān guō" (坩埚, crucible).

Write the left radical 土 first: horizontal, vertical, horizontal (the bottom horizontal becomes a short tilting stroke). Then write the right part 甘: start with the left vertical, then top horizontal and inner horizontal, then bottom horizontal and right vertical — total 8 strokes. Common mistakes include making the 土 radical too wide or forgetting that the bottom stroke of 土 changes to a slight upward flick when 甘 follows.

坩 (gān) has 土 on the left and 甘 (sweet) on the right, meaning crucible. 在 (zài) has 土 on the left and 才 (talent) on the right, meaning "to be at" or "exist" — it is completely unrelated in meaning. 圩 (wéi) has 土 and 于, meaning a dike or market, and is pronounced differently. Visually, 甘 has an inner horizontal line, while 才 and 于 do not.

坩 is almost never used alone; it appears only in compound words like 坩埚 (crucible) and 坩埚钳 (crucible tongs), which are specialized terms in chemistry labs and metalworking. It is not part of daily vocabulary or HSK. Culturally, crucibles (坩埚) are associated with ancient Chinese alchemy and traditional metal casting, where glazed clay pots were used to melt metals for coins or artifacts.

Common words containing 坩 include: 坩埚 (gān guō) — crucible; 坩埚钳 (gān guō qián) — crucible tongs; 瓷坩埚 (cí gān guō) — porcelain crucible.