How to Write 邯 (hán) — Meaning “Han (used in place names)”

Imagine a sweet (甘) city located on a hill (阝). You can think of "Han" as in the Han dynasty, and picture a hill with a sweet place called Handan. This visual trick links the components to the city name.

Write the left radical 阝 first: a horizontal fold (㇆) followed by a vertical line (丨). Then write the right side 甘 with 5 strokes: horizontal, vertical, horizontal, vertical, horizontal. A common mistake is making the left part too wide; keep it narrow and tall to balance with the right part.

邯 has the right component 甘 (sweet), while 邗 has 干 (dry) and is used for the Han River. 邘 has 于 (at) and is another ancient place name. Visually, the right sides differ: 甘 has a stroke inside a box, 干 is a simple cross shape, and 于 has a curved hook.

邯 is most commonly seen in the city name 邯郸 (Handan, Hebei) and in the idiom 邯郸学步, which tells a story about a man who tried to imitate others' walking and forgot his own. This idiom is used to warn against blind imitation and losing one's own abilities.

Common words containing 邯 include: 邯郸 (hán dān) — Handan (a city in Hebei, China); 邯郸路 (hán dān lù) — Handan Road; 邯郸学步 (hán dān xué bù) — to slavishly imitate others and lose one's own skills (idiom).