Chinese word

散

Pronunciation

Pinyinsàn

Meaning

  • verbscatter

Example

会议结束后大家就散了。huì yì jié shù hòu dà jiā jiù sàn le

After the meeting ended, everyone scattered.

Illustration for 散 (scatter)

More examples

庆典结束后人群慢慢地散开了。qìng diǎn jié shù hòu rén qún màn màn dì sàn kāi le

After the ceremony ended, the crowd gradually dispersed.

Core concept

A gathered whole loosens and moves into separate directions.

Common phrases

  • 散开sàn kāi

    disperse

  • 散去sàn qù

    disperse

  • 散场sàn chǎng

    break up

Similar words

解散jiě sàn: End a meeting or organization and cause its members to leave.
分散fēn sàn: Separate a whole into several parts that spread to different places.
散开sàn kāi: Spread apart from a compact group, creating spaces between the parts.
离开lí kāi: Move away from a place to go somewhere else.

Definition in Chinese

表示由集中或聚集状态向各处分开或分散的动作或状态，常用于人群、物体或抽象事态，常作不及物动词。biǎo shì yóu jí zhōng huò jù jí zhuàng tài xiàng gè chù fēn kāi huò fēn sàn de dòng zuò huò zhuàng tài cháng yòng yú rén qún wù tǐ huò chōu xiàng shì tài cháng zuò bù jí wù dòng cí

Word origin

散 (sàn, "scatter") developed from the basic idea of people or things separating from a gathered group, and later extended to situations that come apart.

Usage tips

  • This verb often describes people leaving a gathering, so it commonly appears without an object in casual conversation.

Other meanings

  • break upverb

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word