(guàn): can, jar, pot

(guàn) is a Chinese character meaning “can.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2333 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, jar. Its radical form (jar) appears in many related characters such as (quē, deficiency), (gāng, jar).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. can
  2. jar
  3. pot

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticjar

Decomposition: ⿰缶雚 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23

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
guàn zijar
guàn toutin
yì lā guànpull-top can
shuǐ guàncontainer for holding and pouring water (or other liquid): jug, pitcher, clay jar, jerry can, water bottle etc
mì guànhoney pot
guàn chē(road) tanker truck
chǔ qì guàngas tank (for gas, not gasoline)
guàn tou qǐ zican opener
guàn tóu xiào shēngcanned laughter
yì kāi guàn(Tw) pull-top can
kāi guàn qìcan opener
cún qián guànpiggy bank
bá huǒ guàn rerhua variant of 拔火罐[ba2 huo3 guan4]
yóu guàn chēoil tanker truck
bá guàn zito practice cupping (technique used in TCM)
26
Total compounds
27
As first character
50
As last character
23
As middle character

appears in 26 compound words: 27 as the first character, 50 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

héng
0.75811 co-occurrences
tòng
0.53311 co-occurrences
chǔ
0.5132,388 co-occurrences
táo
0.4943,090 co-occurrences
yóu
0.4905,142 co-occurrences
wán
0.47111 co-occurrences
shì
0.46311 co-occurrences
píng
0.4611,092 co-occurrences
chéng
0.45711 co-occurrences
tóu
0.4524,001 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

pò guàn pò shuāiHSK 6+

to allow things to worsen even if you know there are faults or mistakes

phrase

Showing 1 of 2 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字的意思与它的部首有关。

zhè gě guàn zì de yì sī yú tā de bù shǒu yǒu guān .

The meaning of the character "罐" is related to its radical.

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Mar 2026

轿车变“油车”走私津贴汽油 3名老翁边境套利落网

jiào chē biàn yóu guàn chē zǒu sī jīn tiē qì yóu 3 míng lǎo wēng biān jìng tào lì luò wǎng

LtnMar 2026

与油车擦撞卷轮内 高雄微型电动二轮车骑士惊险...

yǔ yóu guàn chē cā zhuàng juǎn lún nèi gāo xióng wēi xíng diàn dòng èr lún chē qí shì jīng xiǎn . . .

Kaohsiung scooter rider narrowly escapes after being dragged under a tanker truck following a collision...

News For ChineseFeb 2026

...tify与Liquid Death出骨灰蓝牙音箱

. . . t i f y yǔ L i q u i d D e a t h chū gǔ huī guàn lán yá yīn xiāng

... tify and Liquid Death released an urn Bluetooth speaker

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

黄春:阿末扎希有机会担任首相吗?

huáng chūn guàn : ā mò zhā xī yǒu jī huì dān rèn shǒu xiāng ma ?

Huang Chuncan: Does Ahmad Zahid have a chance to be prime minister?

StheadlineFeb 2026

...新游乐场用家为本 打造“好玩城市” 摆脱头式设计 反思痛点平衡营运压力

. . . xīn yóu lè chǎng yòng jiā wéi běn dǎ zào hǎo wán chéng shì bǎi tuō guàn tóu shì shè jì fǎn sī tòng diǎn píng héng yíng yùn yā lì

... The new playground is user-oriented to create a "fun city" Break away from canned design and reflect on pain points to balance operational pressure

Tatoeba

我构不到那番茄头。

Wǒ gòu bù dào nà guàn fānqié guàntou.

I can't reach that can of tomatoes.

Tatoeba

汤姆拿起子读标签。

Tāngmǔ náqǐ guànzi dú biāoqiān.

Tom picked up the jar and read the label.

Tatoeba

子里有一些饼干。

Guànzi lǐ yǒuyīxiē bǐnggān.

There are some cookies in the jar.

Tatoeba

梅格买了一西红柿。

Méi gé mǎi le yī guàn xīhóngshì.

Meg bought a can of tomatoes.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the jar radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced guàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 罐 (guàn) mean in Chinese?
罐 (guàn) primarily means "can." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2333 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 罐 and 权?
罐 (guàn) and 权 (quán) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 缶 vs 木 (same 雚 component).
How many strokes does 罐 have?
罐 is written with 24 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 罐?
The radical associated with 罐 is 缶 (jar). This radical appears in many characters related to jar.
What are the components of 罐?
罐 is composed of: 缶 (semantic), 雚 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰缶雚 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 罐?
Common words with 罐 include: 罐子 (guàn zi, "jar"); 罐头 (guàn tou, "tin"); 易拉罐 (yì lā guàn, "pull-top can"); 水罐 (shuǐ guàn, "container for holding and pouring water (or other liquid): jug, pitcher, clay jar, jerry can, water bottle etc"); 蜜罐 (mì guàn, "honey pot"). There are over 26 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 罐 (guàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation guàn: 灌 (to irrigate), 关 (mountain pass), 观 (to look at), 官 (official), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 罐 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 罐 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.