(chún): lip

(chún) is a Chinese character meaning “lip.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1860 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. lip

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticmouth

Decomposition: ⿸辰口 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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
zuǐ chúnlip
chún gāolip balm
tù chúnhare lip (birth defect)
chún shéargument
chún qiāng shé jiàn(idiom) to cross verbal swords
fǎn chún xiāng jī(idiom) to answer back sarcastically
齿chún chǐ xiāng yīlit. as close as lips and teeth (idiom)
chún liècleft lip
lǘ chún bù duì mǎ zuǐlit. a donkey's lips do not match a horse's mouth (saying)
chún xíng kēLabiatae, the taxonomic family including lavender, mint
shàng chúnupper lip
xià chúnlower lip
shuāng chún yīnbilabial consonant (b, p, or m)
nèi chúnepipharynx (entomology)
线chún xiàn bǐlip liner
42
Total compounds
48
As first character
24
As last character
29
As middle character

appears in 42 compound words: 48 as the first character, 24 as the last, and 29 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.

zuǐ
0.6307,697 co-occurrences
gāo
0.5291,194 co-occurrences
yuán
0.5293,834 co-occurrences
齿chǐ
0.5191,998 co-occurrences
bàn
0.5101,116 co-occurrences
shé
0.5011,750 co-occurrences
0.489204 co-occurrences
lóng
0.460876 co-occurrences
hòu
0.4401,884 co-occurrences
liè
0.4301,776 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

báifèi chúnshéHSK 7+

to waste one's breath

phrase
bān chún dì shéHSK 7+

to pass on stories (idiom); to sow dissension; to blab; to tell tales

phrase
齿chúnchǐxiāngyīHSK 7+

to be closely related and mutually dependent (like the lips and teeth)

phrase
chúnqiāngshéjiànHSK 7+

to have a heated verbal exchange

phrase
chún qiāng shé zhànHSK 7+

see 唇槍舌劍|唇枪舌剑[chun2 qiang1 she2 jian4]

phrase
齿chúnwángchǐhánHSK 7+

to share a common lot; to share the same fate

phrase
ráo shé tiáo chúnHSK 7+

blabbing and showing off (idiom); loud-mouthed trouble maker

phrase
齿hào chǐ zhū chúnHSK 7+

white teeth and vermilion lips (idiom); lovely young woman

phrase
lǘ chún mǎ zuǐHSK 7+

see 驢唇不對馬嘴|驴唇不对马嘴[lu : 2 chun2 bu4 dui4 ma3 zui3]

phrase

Showing 9 of 10 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

才很好,能言善辩,是个出色的律师。

tā chún cái hěn hǎo , néng yán shàn biàn , shì gě chū sè de lǜ shī .

He has a silver tongue and is a skilled advocate, an outstanding lawyer.

TvbsApr 2026

三振舞男神诞生!布莱恩“咬扭臀”三振舞超吸睛 李珠珢说赞

sān zhèn wǔ nán shén dàn shēng ! bù lái ēn yǎo chún niǔ tún sān zhèn wǔ chāo xī jīng lǐ zhū 珢 shuō zàn

TvbsMar 2026

桃机直击/TWICE抵台!娜琏嘟翘太萌了 Sana女神甜笑要融化

táo jī zhí jī T W I C E dǐ tái ! 娜 琏 嘟 qiáo chún tài méng le S a n a nǚ shén tián xiào yāo róng huà

Taoyuan Airport Report: TWICE Arrives in Taiwan! Nayeon’s pout is so cute, and Sana’s sweet smile is enough to melt your heart

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

遗产官司!双方枪舌战3小时 张国炜主张“让没包袱的人来...

yí chǎn guān sī ! shuāng fāng chún qiāng shé zhàn 3 xiǎo shí zhāng guó 炜 zhǔ zhāng ràng méi bāo fú de rén lái . . .

Estate lawsuit! The two sides fought for 3 hours Zhang Guowei advocated "letting people without baggage come...

Tatoeba

你的嘴软绵绵的,就像仙人掌的表皮一样。

Nǐ de zuǐchún ruǎnmiánmián de, jiù xiàng xiānrénzhǎng de biǎopí yīyàng.

Your lips are soft like the surface of a cactus.

Tatoeba

她合上双,并告诉自己不要哭。

Tā héshàng shuāng chún, bìng gàosu zìjǐ bù yào kū.

She pressed her lips together and willed herself not to cry.

Tatoeba

碰过酒的嘴就别想碰我的

Pèng guo jiǔ de zuǐchún jiù bié xiǎng pèng wǒ de chún.

Lips that touch liquor shall not touch mine.

Tatoeba

每年冬天,我的嘴都会干裂。

Měinián dōngtiān, wǒ de zuǐchún dōu huì gānliè.

I get chapped lips every winter.

Tatoeba

你的嘴很漂亮。

Nǐ de zuǐchún hěn piàoliang.

You have beautiful lips.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced chún

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 唇 (chún) mean in Chinese?
唇 (chún) primarily means "lip." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1860 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 唇 and 震?
唇 (chún) and 震 (zhèn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 口 vs 雨 (same 辰 component).
How many strokes does 唇 have?
唇 is written with 10 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 唇?
The radical associated with 唇 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.
What are the components of 唇?
唇 is composed of: 辰 (phonetic), 口 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸辰口 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 唇?
Common words with 唇 include: 嘴唇 (zuǐ chún, "lip"); 唇膏 (chún gāo, "lip balm"); 兔唇 (tù chún, "hare lip (birth defect)"); 唇舌 (chún shé, "argument"); 唇枪舌剑 (chún qiāng shé jiàn, "(idiom) to cross verbal swords"). There are over 42 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 唇 (chún)?
Several characters share the pronunciation chún: 春 (spring), 纯 (pure), 醇 (alcohol), 蠢 (stupid). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 唇 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 唇 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.