The Chinese character for the word (段) literally means "step" or "stage" in Japanese, but is also used to refer to one's "rank", "grade", or "station", i.e., one's degree or level of expertise, knowledge and seniority. In Chinese pinyin, however, the same character is pronounced "duàn" in Mandarin with the 4th tone, and was originally used to mean "phase". Dan is often used together with the word in certain ranking systems, with "dan" being used for the higher ranks and "kyū" being used for lower ranks.