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南 — south

Pinyin
nán · nā · Nán
Strokes
9
HSK level
HSK 3
Handwriting
required

This character has more than one reading — nán, nā, Nán — and the pronunciation depends on the word it appears in. The list below gives the syllabus reading for each word.

How to write 南: 9 strokes

Each cell adds one stroke to the previous ones, with the new stroke in red. Stroke order is not decoration: it sets the proportions of the character and makes handwriting legible to a reader. This character is on the HSK handwriting list, so the exam expects you to write it, not only recognise it.

南 — 9 strokes, in writing order from left to right.

Build a printable practice sheet with 南

Words with 南 in the HSK syllabus: 10

Every word in the official 2026 syllabus that contains this character, with the level it is introduced at. Learning a character pays off through these: each one combines with the characters you already know.

  1. 东南dōngnánsoutheastHSK 3
  2. 南nánsouthHSK 3
  3. 南方nánfāngsouth; southern directionHSK 3
  4. 西南xīnánsouthwestHSK 3
  5. 南部nánbùsouthern partHSK 4
  6. 南极洲NánjízhōuAntarcticaHSK 6
  7. 南美洲NánměizhōuSouth AmericaHSK 6
  8. 南瓜nánguāpumpkinHSK 7–9
  9. 南辕北辙nányuán-běizhéto act in a way that defeats one's purposeHSK 7–9
  10. 指南zhǐnánto guide; guidebookHSK 7–9

Glosses come from CC-CEDICT, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, and are the dictionary’s first sense rather than a translation chosen for context.