(guàn): habit, used to

(guàn) is a Chinese character meaning “habit, used to.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1220 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, heart. Its radical form (heart) appears in many related characters such as (máng, busy), (kuài, fast, happy), (zěn, how).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. habit, used to

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticheart

Decomposition: ⿰忄贯 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verb/nounxí guànhabit3

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
guàn lìconvention
kàn bu guàncannot bear to see
guàn yòngto use habitually
guàn fànrecidivist
guàn xìng(physics) inertia
sī kōng jiàn guàna common occurrence (idiom)
xí guàn xìngcustomary
jiāo shēng guàn yǎngpampered and spoiled since childhood
jiāo guànto pamper
guàn liànginertia (mechanics)
xí guàn fǎcustomary law
guàn tōuhabitual thief
guàn qièhabitual thief
xí guàn chéng zì ránhabit becomes nature (idiom)
guàn yòng shǒudominant hand
32
Total compounds
50
As first character
22
As last character
28
As middle character

appears in 32 compound words: 50 as the first character, 22 as the last, and 28 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.

0.73035,742 co-occurrences
0.54319,728 co-occurrences
àn
0.5429,438 co-occurrences
yǐn
0.4771,350 co-occurrences
jiāo
0.419186 co-occurrences
0.4181,674 co-occurrences
zhào
0.3993,084 co-occurrences
xìng
0.3948,754 co-occurrences
fēng
0.3571,638 co-occurrences
0.347126 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

jiāoshēngguànyǎngHSK 7+

having been indulged and spoiled since childhood

phrase
sīkōngjiànguànHSK 3+

too common to surprise people; be a common occurrence; commonplace

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我习了每天早上六点起床,周末也不例外。

Wǒ xíguàn le měitiān zǎoshang liù diǎn qǐchuáng, zhōumò yě bù lìwài.

I'm used to getting up at six every morning, even on weekends.

99 健康网Feb 2026

女生说话喜欢插嘴巴的原因,健康社交习探讨

nǚ shēng shuō huà xǐ huān chā zuǐ bā de yuán yīn , jiàn kāng shè jiāo xí guàn tàn tǎo

The reasons why girls like to interject when talking are discussed for healthy social habits

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...网红开启退休后“第二人生” 戒掉6种坏习生活更快乐

. . . wǎng hóng kāi qǐ tuì xiū hòu dì èr rén shēng jiè diào 6 zhǒng huài xí guàn shēng huó gēng kuài lè

... Internet celebrities start a "second life" after retirement, quit 6 bad habits, and live a happier life

99 健康网Feb 2026

...05年出生女子或成最长寿,该女子的日常习引发关注

. . . 0 5 nián chū shēng nǚ zǐ huò chéng zuì cháng shòu , gāi nǚ zǐ de rì cháng xí guàn yǐn fā guān zhù

... A woman born in 05 may become the longest-lived, and the woman's daily habits have attracted attention

99 健康网Feb 2026

男生小便完甩一下是文化习还是生理现象?全球男性普遍如此吗

nán shēng xiǎo biàn wán shuǎi yī xià shì wén huà xí guàn hái shì shēng lǐ xiàn xiàng ? quán qiú nán xìng pǔ biàn rú cǐ ma

Is shaking after urination a cultural habit or a physiological phenomenon? Is this common among men worldwide?

StheadlineFeb 2026

儿童理财|校长吁及早建立良好理财习 家长必学将储蓄融入生活:“财分三份”建...

ér tóng lǐ cái jiào cháng xū jí zǎo jiàn lì liáng hǎo lǐ cái xí guàn jiā cháng bì xué jiāng chǔ xù róng rù shēng huó : cái fēn sān fèn jiàn . . .

Children's financial management|Principal calls for early establishment of good financial habits Parents must learn to integrate savings into life: "divide the wealth into three parts" to build...

Tatoeba

你习在宿舍生活了吗?

Nǐ xíguàn zài sùshè shēnghuó le ma?

Are you used to living in the dorms?

Tatoeba

你有吃早餐的习吗?

Nǐ yǒu chī zǎocān de xíguàn ma?

Do you usually eat breakfast?

Tatoeba

好习是从小养成的。

Hǎo xíguàn shì cóng xiǎo yǎngchéng de.

Good habits should be cultivated in childhood.

Tatoeba

你很快就会习吃日本料理了。

Nǐ hěn kuài jiù huì xíguàn chī Rìběn liàolǐ le.

You'll soon get used to Japanese food.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced guàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 惯 (guàn) mean in Chinese?
惯 (guàn) primarily means "habit, used to." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1220 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 惯 have?
惯 is written with 11 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 惯?
The radical associated with 惯 is 忄 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.
What are the components of 惯?
惯 is composed of: 忄 (semantic), 贯 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰忄贯 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 惯?
Common words with 惯 include: 习惯 (xí guàn, "habit"); 惯例 (guàn lì, "convention"); 看不惯 (kàn bu guàn, "cannot bear to see"); 惯用 (guàn yòng, "to use habitually"); 惯犯 (guàn fàn, "recidivist"). There are over 32 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 惯 (guàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation guàn: 关 (mountain pass), 观 (to look at), 官 (official), 冠 (hat), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 惯 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 惯 and the traditional form is 慣.

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.