坦 tǎn
- Strokes
- 8
- Radical
- 土 — soil, earth
- How it's built
- Phono-semantic — one part hints at the meaning, another at the sound
坦白
tǎnbái
frank; to confess
Characters in this word
白 bái
- Strokes
- 5
- Radical
- 白 — white
- How it's built
- Ideograph — the meaning is built from its parts
Example phrases
- 他终于坦白了账目造假的细节，并愿意配合调查。 Tā zhōngyú tǎnbái le zhàngmù zàojiǎ de xìjié, bìng yuànyì pèihé diàochá. He finally confessed the details of the falsified accounts and was willing to cooperate with the investigation.
- 你最好坦白告诉我，文件为什么不见了。 Nǐ zuìhǎo tǎnbái gàosu wǒ, wénjiàn wèishénme bùjiàn le. You'd better tell me frankly why the document has disappeared.
- 孩子终于坦白了打碎花瓶的经过。 Háizi zhōngyú tǎnbái le dǎsuì huāpíng de jīngguò. The child finally confessed how the vase got broken.
Related words
- 平坦 píngtǎn flat; even
- 坦诚 tǎnchéng honest and open; frank
- 坦克 tǎnkè tank
- 坦然 tǎnrán calm; composed
- 坦率 tǎnshuài frank; candid
- 坦言 tǎnyán to state frankly; frank statement
- 白 bái white
- 白天 báitiān daytime, during the day
- 明白 míngbai to understand; clear
- 白色 báisè white
- 白 bái in vain; for free
- 白菜 báicài Chinese cabbage