How to Write 珊 (shān) — Meaning “coral”

Imagine a "king's book" (王 + 册) that is made entirely of coral — each page is a piece of colorful, hard coral. This strange image links the components to the meaning of coral.

The left part 王 should be narrow, and the right part 册 should be slightly taller but not too wide. A common mistake is writing the two horizontal strokes of 册 too close together — keep them evenly spaced for balance.

珊 has the right side 册 (book), while 玓 has 勺 (spoon) and 玖 has 久 (long). Their meanings are different: 玓 refers to the brilliance of jade, 玖 is used for the number nine or black jade, and 珊 only means coral.

珊 almost always appears in the word 珊瑚 (shān hú, coral) or 珊瑚礁 (shān hú jiāo, coral reef). It is not used alone as a single character in daily speech, but 珊瑚 is common in marine biology, jewelry, and decorations.

Common words containing 珊 include: 珊瑚 (shān hú) — coral; 珊珊 (shān shān) — tinkling sound / slowly and gracefully; 珊瑚礁 (shān hú jiāo) — Coral reef.