How to Write 讪 (shàn) — Meaning “To mock or feel embarrassed”

Imagine you are at the foot of a mountain (山) and you try to start a conversation (讠) with someone, but you feel embarrassed because your voice echoes off the rocks. This image connects the speech radical and the mountain shape to the feeling of being sheepish or mocking.

The left radical 讠 is written first with a dot, then a diagonal stroke, and a vertical hook — make sure the hook is short. On the right, 山 is written with the middle vertical stroke first, then the left and right strokes. A common mistake is making the mountain too wide; keep it narrow to balance with the speech radical.

讪 means to mock or feel embarrassed, while 计 means "to plan" or "to calculate," and 订 means "to order" or "to book." Visually, 讪 has the mountain component 山 on the right, whereas 计 has the cross 十 and 订 has the nail 丁. Their meanings are completely different despite sharing the same left radical.

讪 appears in words like 搭讪 (to strike up a conversation, often awkwardly) and 讪讪 (embarrassed). In daily life, 讪 is not very common but is used to describe feeling sheepish after a social mistake. Culturally, 讪 carries a tone of mild social awkwardness rather than deep shame.

Common words containing 讪 include: 搭讪 (dā shàn) — strike up a conversation; 讪笑 (shàn xiào) — To mock or sneer at; 讪讪 (shàn shàn) — Embarrassed or sheepish.