(chuǎn): to gasp, to pant, asthma

(chuǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “to gasp.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1950 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, mouth. Its radical form (mouth) appears in many related characters such as (kǒu, mouth), (jiào, to call, to be called), (yòu, (bound form) right).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to gasp
  2. to pant
  3. asthma

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticmouth

Decomposition: ⿰口耑 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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
xiào chuǎnasthma
chuǎn qìto breathe deeply
chuǎn xīto gasp for breath
gǒu yán cán chuǎn(idiom) to struggle on whilst at death's door
qì chuǎnto gasp for breath
qì chuǎn xū xūto pant
xiào chuǎn bìngasthma
qì chuǎn bìngasthma
chuǎn xū xūvariant of 喘吁吁[chuan3 xu1 xu1]
chuǎn bu guò qì láito be unable to breathe
shuō nǐ pàng nǐ jiù chuǎnlit. when someone tells you you're fat, you pant (as if you were actually fat) (idiom)
chuǎn bu guòto be unable to breathe easily
qì chuǎn rú niúto breathe heavily like an ox (idiom)
chuǎn cū qìto pant heavily
fáng chuǎn zhèn(turbomachinery design) anti-surge
21
Total compounds
38
As first character
29
As last character
33
As middle character

appears in 21 compound words: 38 as the first character, 29 as the last, and 33 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.

hāi
0.598654 co-occurrences
gǒu
0.598900 co-occurrences
sòu
0.553270 co-occurrences
tán
0.534192 co-occurrences
0.5204,122 co-occurrences
0.470342 co-occurrences
huàn
0.4541,092 co-occurrences
shēn
0.43230 co-occurrences
0.4101,125 co-occurrences
cán
0.408336 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

gǒuyáncánchuǎnHSK 7+

to linger; to drag on one's feeble existence

phrase
qìchuǎnrúniúHSK 7+

to pant or gasp loudly

phrase
qìchuǎnxūxūHSK 7+

to pant or gasp heavily; to be out of breath

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

干舌燥地讲了两个小时,终于说服了大家。

tā chuǎn gān jī zào dì jiǎng le liǎng gě xiǎo shí , zhōng yú shuō fú le dà jiā .

He talked himself hoarse for two hours before finally convincing everyone.

EttodayMar 2026

长照3.0推“当志工换息服务” 专家直呼CP值高:4族群最适用

cháng zhào 3 . 0 tuī dāng zhì gōng huàn chuǎn xī fú wù zhuān jiā zhí hū C P zhí gāo : 4 zú qún zuì shì yòng

Long-Term Care 3.0 Introduces "Volunteer for Respite Care" Program; Experts Call It a Great Value: Most Suitable for These 4 Groups

工商時報Mar 2026

川普TACO再现 市场口气

chuān pǔ T A C O zài xiàn shì chǎng chuǎn kǒu qì

Trump's TACO Makes a Comeback; Market Takes a Breather

風傳媒Mar 2026

严重气治疗新突破!5大生物制剂纳健保 摆脱类固...

yán chóng qì chuǎn zhì liáo xīn tū pò ! 5 dà shēng wù zhì jì nà jiàn bǎo bǎi tuō lèi gù . . .

Major Breakthrough in Severe Asthma Treatment! Five Biologics Added to National Health Insurance—Say Goodbye to Corticosteroids...

LtnMar 2026

央行松绑、换屋族口气?建商大老警告:4月这件事才是房价地...

yāng háng sōng bǎng , huàn wū zú chuǎn kǒu qì ? jiàn shāng dà lǎo jǐng gào : 4 yuè zhè jiàn shì cái shì fáng jià dì . . .

Central Bank Eases Restrictions—A Breath of Fresh Air for Home Sellers? Real Estate Tycoon Warns: This April Development Is What Will Really Drive Home Prices and Land...

Tatoeba

跑上山后,我完全不过气来。

Pǎo shàngshān hòu, wǒ wánquán chuǎnbuguòqìlái.

After running up the hill, I was completely out of breath.

Tatoeba

他跑得太快,以至于不过气来。

Tā pǎo de tài kuài, yǐzhìyú chuǎnbuguòqìlái.

He ran so fast that he was out of breath.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced chuǎn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 喘 (chuǎn) mean in Chinese?
喘 (chuǎn) primarily means "to gasp." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1950 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 喘 and 端?
喘 (chuǎn) and 端 (duān) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 口 vs 立 (same 耑 component).
How many strokes does 喘 have?
喘 is written with 12 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 喘?
The radical associated with 喘 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 喘?
喘 is composed of: 口 (semantic), 耑 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰口耑 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 喘?
Common words with 喘 include: 哮喘 (xiào chuǎn, "asthma"); 喘气 (chuǎn qì, "to breathe deeply"); 喘息 (chuǎn xī, "to gasp for breath"); 苟延残喘 (gǒu yán cán chuǎn, "(idiom) to struggle on whilst at death's door"); 气喘 (qì chuǎn, "to gasp for breath"). There are over 21 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 喘 (chuǎn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chuǎn: 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 喘 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 喘 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.