How to Write 橄 (gǎn) — Meaning “olive”

Imagine a tree (木) that is so "dare"-ing (敢) that it grows olives — a fruit that survives in harsh conditions. The sound "gǎn" also reminds me of "gun," and you can picture a brave tree shaped like a gun holding olives.

Write the left 木 narrow and with all four strokes (horizontal, vertical, left-falling, right-falling). Then add the right side 敢 carefully: start with the top component 耳 (7 strokes in 敢, but actually 敢 has 11 strokes — note the order: horizontal, left-falling, vertical, horizontal, horizontal, vertical, horizontal, left-falling, right-falling). A common mistake is making the right side too wide or mixing up the strokes at the bottom.

All three share the 木 radical, but the right parts differ. 橄 uses 敢 and refers to olives; 椴 uses 段 and means linden tree; 椹 uses 甚 and means mulberry. Visually, 敢 (dare) has a distinct top with 耳-like shape, while 段 has 殳 on the right and 甚 looks like 其 crossed with 匕.

橄 appears almost exclusively in the compound 橄榄 (gǎn lǎn, olive). It is common in words like 橄榄油 (olive oil) and 橄榄球 (American football / Rugby, named for the ball's olive-like shape). Culturally, olive branches symbolize peace, and 橄榄 is a popular fruit in Chinese cuisine and health products.

Common words containing 橄 include: 橄榄 (gǎn lǎn) — olive; 橄榄油 (gǎn lǎn yóu) — olive oil; 橄榄球 (gǎn lǎn qiú) — American football / Rugby.