Chou Collection, Middle Volume Radical: Earth (tǔ) Tan Kangxi stroke count: 8 Page 226, Entry 18 Guangyun (Broad Rhymes) and Zhengyun (Correct Rhymes) state the pronunciation is tan. Jiyun (Collected Rhymes) and Yunhui (Gathering of Rhymes) state the pronunciation is tang. It is also pronounced tan (rising tone). Shuowen (Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters) states it means wide and level. Book of Changes (Yijing), Hexagram of Treading (Lu Gua): To tread the path in a level and easy manner. Also a surname. In the Song dynasty, there was Tan Zhongyong. Sometimes also written in a variant form (dan). Also used interchangeably with the character for altar (tan). See the note for the character altar (tan).