Chinese symbol for “sandalwood”
檀
tán
sandalwood; hardwood; purple-red
The closest CC-CEDICT match for sandalwood is 檀 (tán), defined as: sandalwood; hardwood; purple-red.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “sandalwood”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 檀香 | tán xiāng | sandalwood |
| 旃檀 | zhān tán | sandalwood (loanword from Sanskrit "candana") |
| 栴檀 | zhān tán | sandalwood |
| 檊 | gàn | Chinese mulberry; sandalwood |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 檀.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 紫檀 | zǐ tán | red sandalwood |
| 檀香 | tán xiāng | sandalwood |
| 旃檀 | zhān tán | sandalwood (loanword from Sanskrit "candana") |
| 青檀 | qīng tán | blue sandalwood (Pteroceltis tatarinowii Maxim), the bark of which is used to manufacture 宣紙|宣纸 |
| 微凹黄檀 (微凹黃檀) | wēi āo huáng tán | cocobolo (Dalbergia retusa) |
| 栴檀 | zhān tán | sandalwood |
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.