(chuàn): to string together, to skewer, to connect wrongly

(chuàn) is a Chinese character meaning “to string together.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical (line). It ranks #1815 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, two objects 口 strung 丨 together. Its radical form (line) appears in many related characters such as (, (classifier used before a noun that has no specific classifier)), (zhōng, (bound form) China), (fēng, luxuriant).

Native pronunciation
HSK 6Radical: line7 strokesFrequency #1815

Definitions

  1. to string together
  2. to skewer
  3. to connect wrongly

Etymology & Origin

ideographicTwo objects 口 strung 丨 together

Decomposition: ⿻⿱口口丨 (layout: overlay)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
yī lián chuàna succession of
kè chuànto appear on stage in an amateur capacity
chuàn tōngto collude
chuàn ménto call on sb
chuàn liánto establish ties
fǎn chuàn(Chinese opera) to play a role outside of one's specialty
yáng ròu chuànlamb kebab
chuàn tōng yī qìto act in collusion (idiom)
chuàn gòngto collude to fabricate a story
zì fú chuànstring (computing)
线tōng yòng chuàn xíng zǒng xiàn(computing) Universal Serial Bus
tè bié kè chuànspecial guest performer (in a show)
chuàn mén zisee 串門|串门[chuan4 men2]
chuàn xíng kǒuserial port (computing)
chuàn chǔ lǐstring processing (computing)
43
Total compounds
63
As first character
30
As last character
7
As middle character

appears in 43 compound words: 63 as the first character, 30 as the last, and 7 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.722204,684 co-occurrences
0.50216,158 co-occurrences
liú
0.45032,319 co-occurrences
kǎo
0.4361,582 co-occurrences
0.42623,934 co-occurrences
yǎn
0.40435,508 co-occurrences
méi
0.3896,486 co-occurrences
lián
0.3867,145 co-occurrences
0.3701,278 co-occurrences
shāo
0.3671,398 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

chuàntōngyīqìHSK 6+

to work hand in glove; to act in collusion

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

写好字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。

xiě hǎo chuàn zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhēng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .

To write characters correctly, you need to master the proper stroke order.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

感受嘉南魅力!市府拟联接驳 兰展、灯会一日游

gǎn shòu jiā nán mèi lì ! shì fǔ nǐ chuàn lián jiē bó lán zhǎn , dēng huì yī rì yóu

Feel the charm of Jianan! The city government plans to connect the orchid exhibition and lantern festival one-day tour

中時新聞網Feb 2026

彩券、刮刮乐杠龟可以换200元?还能领一卫生纸

cǎi quàn , guā guā lè gàng guī kě yǐ huàn 2 0 0 yuán ? hái néng lǐng yī chuàn wèi shēng zhǐ

Lottery tickets and scratch cards can be exchanged for 200 yuan? You can also get a string of toilet paper

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

...构要求Netflix(NFLX.US)等流平台 遵守传统广播规则

. . . gòu yāo qiú N e t f l i x ( N F L X . U S ) děng chuàn liú píng tái zūn shǒu chuán tǒng guǎng bō guī zé

... The structure requires Netflix (NFLX. US) and other streaming platforms adhere to traditional broadcasting rules

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

中华电影视流创佳绩

zhōng huá diàn yǐng shì chuàn liú chuàng jiā jì

Chinese film and video streaming achieved great results

LtnFeb 2026

国际兰展2/27登场 9套装游程联85优惠店家报你知

guó jì lán zhǎn 2 2 7 dēng chǎng 9 tào zhuāng yóu chéng chuàn lián 8 5 yōu huì diàn jiā bào nǐ zhī

The International Orchid Exhibition debuted on 2/27, and the 9 set itinerary is connected to 85 discount stores

Tatoeba

你想吃几烤羊肉?

Nǐ xiǎng chī jǐ chuàn kǎo yángròu?

How many kebabs will you have?

Tatoeba

但是我不会烤烤肉

Dànshì wǒ bù huì kǎo kǎoròu chuàn!

But I don't know how to cook kebabs!

Tatoeba

一连的爆炸使实验室成为废墟。

Yìliánchuàn de bàozhà shǐ shíyànshì chéngwéi fèixū.

A series of blasts reduced the laboratory to ruins.

Tatoeba

我们有五种烤肉

Wǒmen yǒu wǔ zhǒng kǎoròu chuàn.

We have five kinds of kebab.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the line radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced chuàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 串 (chuàn) mean in Chinese?
串 (chuàn) primarily means "to string together." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1815 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 串 have?
串 is written with 7 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 串?
The radical associated with 串 is 丨 (line). This radical appears in many characters related to line.
What are common words containing 串?
Common words with 串 include: 一连串 (yī lián chuàn, "a succession of"); 客串 (kè chuàn, "to appear on stage in an amateur capacity"); 串通 (chuàn tōng, "to collude"); 串门 (chuàn mén, "to call on sb"); 串联 (chuàn lián, "to establish ties"). There are over 43 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 串 (chuàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chuàn: 川 (abbr. for Sichuan Province 四川 in southwest China), 穿 (to wear, 穿透), 传 (to pass on), 船 (boat), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 串 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 串 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.