tiān
gān

technical
common

Meaning of 天干

天干 means the ten Heavenly Stems (Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui), traditionally used as ordinal symbols in the Chinese sexagenary cycle. Pronounced tiān gān.

  • the ten Heavenly Stems (Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui), traditionally used as ordinal symbols in the Chinese sexagenary cycle

Definitions & Examples

Zhōng
guó
dài
yòng
tiān
gān
zhī
lái
nián
 

Ancient China used the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches to mark years.

Jiǎ
shì
tiān
gān
de
wèi
 

Jia is the first of the Heavenly Stems.

Zài
xíng
xué
shuō
zhōng
 
tiān
gān
jīn
shuǐ
huǒ
xiāng
duì
yìng
 

In the Five Elements theory, the Heavenly Stems correspond to metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

Measure Words

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Primary