穿 (chuān): to wear, 穿透

穿 (chuān) is a Chinese character meaning “to wear, 穿透.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #785 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 穿 tooth. Its radical form (cave) appears in many related characters such as (kōng, empty, sky), (, sudden), (jiū, research).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to wear, 穿透

Etymology & Origin

穿

pictophonetictooth

Decomposition: ⿱穴牙 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 穿

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
穿verbchuān guòto pass through6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
穿chuān zhuóattire
穿chuān yuèto pass through
穿chuān suōto travel back and forth
穿kàn chuānsee through (a person, scheme, trick etc)
穿chuān tòuto penetrate
穿jiē chuānto expose
穿shì chuānto try wearing clothes
穿chuān dàito dress
穿guàn chuānto run through
穿héng chuānto cross
穿chuān yīto put on clothes
穿chuān xíngto go through
穿chuān kǒngto punch a hole
穿chuān cì(medicine) to puncture
穿chāi chuānto expose
79
Total compounds
47
As first character
30
As last character
23
As middle character

穿 appears in 79 compound words: 47 as the first character, 30 as the last, and 23 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 穿 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

suō
0.67924,162 co-occurrences
yuè
0.615101,592 co-occurrences
guàn
0.55815,720 co-occurrences
zhù
0.51979,524 co-occurrences
0.51124,457 co-occurrences
zhe
0.48433,181 co-occurrences
páo
0.4823,595 co-occurrences
qún
0.4733,412 co-occurrences
0.4711,538 co-occurrences
guò
0.47049,944 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (15)

穿bǎibùchuānyángHSK 7+

to shoot with great precision

phrase
穿chuānjīndàiyínHSK 4+

to be gorgeously dressed and lavishly adorned

phrase
穿chuānzáofùhuìHSK 7+

to give an implausible explanation and draw far-fetched analogies

phrase
穿线chuānzhēnyǐnxiànHSK 4+

to act as a go-between; to act as a middleman

phrase
穿hù xiàn wéi chuānHSK 5+

to have an endless stream of visitors (idiom)

phrase
穿lín kě chuān jǐngHSK 6+

lit. face thirst and dig a well (idiom); fig. not to make adequate provision; to act when it is too late

phrase
穿shuǐdīshíchuānHSK 6+

little strokes fell great oaks

proverb
穿wàng shēng chuān záoHSK 7+

a forced analogy (idiom); to jump to an unwarranted conclusion

phrase
穿wàngyǎnyùchuānHSK 6+

eagerly looking forward to meeting a dear one; expect to see someone who never comes

phrase
穿yǎn chuān cháng duànHSK 6+

waiting anxiously (idiom)

phrase
穿yángmó chuāncìHSK 7+

amniocentesis

noun
线穿yǐn xiàn chuān zhēnHSK 4+

to thread a needle; (fig.) to act as a go-between

phrase

Showing 12 of 15 idioms containing 穿.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

今天天气很冷,出门要多穿点衣服。

Jīntiān tiānqì hěn lěng, chūmén yào duō chuān diǎn yīfu.

It's very cold today; wear more clothes when going out.

99 健康网Feb 2026

穿戴震动棒晚上一直穿会坏吗?这些使用注意事...

chuān dài zhèn dòng bàng wǎn shàng yī zhí chuān huì huài ma ? zhè xiē shǐ yòng zhù yì shì . . .

Does wearing a vibrator all the time at night go bad? These use precautions...

99 健康网Feb 2026

日本一码二码三码的穿着建议?选对尺码穿出舒适感

rì běn yī mǎ èr mǎ sān mǎ de chuān zhe jiàn yì ? xuǎn duì chǐ mǎ chuān chū shū shì gǎn

What are the suggestions for wearing a size 1, 2, and 3 in Japan? Choose the right size to wear comfortably

三立新聞網Feb 2026

仙气调酒喝下肚小心胃穿孔 警:最惨丧命

xiān qì diào jiǔ hē xià dù xiǎo xīn wèi chuān kǒng jǐng : zuì cǎn sāng mìng

Fairy cocktail drink, be careful of stomach perforation Police: The most tragic death

Am730Feb 2026

...休闲服 9m88柯炜林演绎科技布料的日常穿

. . . xiū xián fú 9 m 8 8 柯 炜 lín yǎn yì kē jì bù liào de rì cháng chuān dā

... Casual wear 9m88 Ke Weilin interprets the daily wear of technological fabrics

百度新闻Feb 2026

盘核桃、叠衣服、穿烤肠,银河通用春晚机器人是怎么“..

pán hé táo dié yī fú chuān kǎo cháng , yín hé tōng yòng chūn wǎn jī qì rén shì zěn má . .

Cracking walnuts, folding clothes, threading sausages—how does the Galaxy Universal Spring Festival Gala robot manage to...

Tatoeba

那个穿棕色大衣的女人是谁?

Nèige chuān zōngsè dàyī de nǚrén shì shéi?

Who's the woman in the brown coat?

Tatoeba

参加派对的话,你会穿哪一件衣服?

Cānjiā pàiduì dehuà, nǐ huì chuān nǎ yī jiàn yīfu?

When considering the party, what kind of clothes are you going to wear?

Tatoeba

你要穿那种衣服出门?不太好看耶。

Nǐ yào chuān nà zhǒng yīfu chūmén? Bù tài hǎo kàn yē.

Going out with those clothes? They look kinda bad.

Tatoeba

我可以试穿这件外套吗?

Wǒ kěyǐ shìchuān zhè jiàn wàitào ma?

Can I try on this jacket?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced chuān

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 穿 (chuān) mean in Chinese?
穿 (chuān) primarily means "to wear, 穿透." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #785 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 穿 have?
穿 is written with 9 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 穿?
The radical associated with 穿 is 穴 (cave). This radical appears in many characters related to cave.
What are the components of 穿?
穿 is composed of: 穴 (phonetic), 牙 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱穴牙 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 穿?
Common words with 穿 include: 穿过 (chuān guò, "to pass through"); 穿着 (chuān zhuó, "attire"); 穿越 (chuān yuè, "to pass through"); 穿梭 (chuān suō, "to travel back and forth"); 看穿 (kàn chuān, "see through (a person, scheme, trick etc)"). There are over 79 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 穿 (chuān)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chuān: 川 (abbr. for Sichuan Province 四川 in southwest China), 传 (to pass on), 船 (boat), 喘 (to gasp), and 1 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 穿 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 穿 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 穿 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.