(sēn) - forest, dense, gloomy in Mandarin
sēnTraditional: 森
Translation
forest, dense, gloomy
Word origin
An associative compound written as three copies of 木 (mù, tree), so a mass of trees. The doubled form 林 (lín) is a wood and the tripled form 森 is denser still.
- Origin
- associative compound
- Root
- 木 (mù, tree) tripled
Stroke order
森
Examples
。
It is very quiet in the forest on the mountain.
木，。
This character is three tree characters, and it is read sen.
阴，。
The old house felt eerie, and the child did not dare go in.
。
The air in the forest is far better than in the city.
。
He lived beside a forest as a child.
森 (sēn) is one of the most legible characters in Chinese: three trees stacked into a thicket. Its core sense is dense growth, and it carries a second, darker sense of gloom or eeriness that comes from the same picture.
It hardly ever stands alone in modern Chinese. You meet it inside compounds, above all 森林 (forest), and in the reduplicated 阴森森, which describes the atmosphere of a dark room or a cold corridor rather than any actual woodland.
For an English speaker the useful move is to learn the family together: 木 is a tree, 林 is a wood, 森 is a forest. Three ranks of the same picture, and once you see it you will never confuse 林 and 森 again.
Where this fits
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森: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "森" (forest, dense, gloomy): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 57.