天安门(tiān ān mén) - Tiananmen, Tiananmen Gate in Mandarin

天安门 (Tiān'ānmén) is the Gate of Heavenly Peace, the grand red gate that faces onto Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing. 天 (tiān) means "heaven", 安 (ān) means "peace" and 门 (mén) means "gate" or "door", so the name reads literally as "heavenly peace gate".

Learners often conflate 天安门 (Tiān'ānmén) itself, the gate, with 天安门广场 (Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng), the vast square in front of it. The gate is the older structure, part of the wall that once ringed the Forbidden City; the square is the modern open space where crowds gather for the flag-raising ceremony each morning.

It is one of the first words a beginner meets in a China-themed lesson, alongside 故宫 (Gùgōng), the Forbidden City, and 长城 (Chángchéng), the Great Wall, so expect it to turn up in travel dialogues and history units well before its raw frequency rank would suggest.