(guàn): to penetrate

(guàn) is a Chinese character meaning “to penetrate.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1469 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, money. Its radical form (shell) appears in many related characters such as (guì, abbr. for Guizhou Province 貴州|贵州[Gui4 zhou1]), (, to bear), (, responsibility).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to penetrate

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticmoney

Decomposition: ⿱毌贝 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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
yī guànconsistent6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
quán shén guàn zhù(idiom) to concentrate one's attention completely
穿guàn chuānto run through
lián guànto link up (disparate elements)
mǎn guànto win every trick in a card game
guàn chèto implement
yāo chán wàn guànlit. ten thousand strings of cash in money belt (idiom)
è guàn mǎn yínglit. strung through and filled with evil (idiom)
rú léi guàn ěrlit. like thunder piercing the ear
wàn guànten thousand strings of cash
guàn tōngto link up
héng guànhorizontal traverse
jí guànone's ancestral home (registered place of family origin, typically inherited patrilineally and recorded in official d...
róng huì guàn tōng(idiom) to integrate knowledge from various sources into a deep and coherent understanding of a subject
wàn guàn jiā cáivast wealth
guàn zhùto concentrate on
36
Total compounds
25
As first character
44
As last character
31
As middle character

appears in 36 compound words: 25 as the first character, 44 as the last, and 31 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.

chè
0.63711,271 co-occurrences
mǎn
0.61223,265 co-occurrences
0.60435,316 co-occurrences
穿chuān
0.55815,720 co-occurrences
zòng
0.5285,190 co-occurrences
héng
0.5165,814 co-occurrences
tōng
0.45127,012 co-occurrences
gǎng
0.44510 co-occurrences
xiáng
0.4321,764 co-occurrences
线xiàn
0.42510,686 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (12)

èguànmǎnyíngHSK 7+

to have committed a great number of crimes or sins

phrase
guànchèshǐzhōngHSK 6+

to follow through; to carry through to the end

phrase
qì guàn cháng hóngHSK 6+

spirit reaches to the rainbow; full of noble aspiration and daring

phrase
quánshénguànzhùHSK 6+

to focus all of one's attention on

phrase
rónghuìguàntōngHSK 6+

to gain a thorough understanding of something by integrating knowledge from different areas

phrase
rúléiguàn'ěrHSK 6+

to reverberate like thunder; to be very famous

phrase
wànguànjiācáiHSK 6+

synonym of 家財萬貫 /家财万贯 (jiācáiwànguàn, “to be from a very affluent family; to have a very rich family”)

phrase
yāo chán wàn guànHSK 7+

lit. ten thousand strings of cash in money belt (idiom); carrying lots of money; extremely wealthy; loaded

phrase
yīyǐguànzhīHSK 6+

to go through all things with the same principle

phrase
yú guàn ér chūHSK 6+

to file out; to walk out in a line

phrase
yú guàn ér rùHSK 6+

to walk in in a line

phrase
jiā zī wàn guànHSK 6+

immensely rich

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习要穿一生,不能停止。

Xuéxí yào guànchuān yìshēng, bùnéng tíngzhǐ.

Learning should last a lifetime; it cannot stop.

StheadlineFeb 2026

WTT新加坡大满│“港韩组合”陈颢桦/金娜英2:3憾负世...

W T T xīn jiā pō dà mǎn guàn gǎng hán zǔ gě chén 颢 桦 jīn 娜 yīng 2 : 3 hàn fù shì . . .

WTT Singapore Grand Slam│"Hong Kong and South Korea Combination" Chen Haohua/Kim Na Young 2:3 regret the world...

TvbsFeb 2026

冬奥/日双人花滑“璃来龙”生涯金满 透露未来一起退役

dōng ào rì shuāng rén huā huá lí lái lóng shēng yá jīn mǎn guàn tòu lù wèi lái yī qǐ tuì yì

Winter Olympics/Japan pair figure skating "Lilailong" career golden slam revealed that they will retire together in the future

美通社Feb 2026

...A亚洲职业匹克球巡回赛赛程揭晓,香港大满赛将成为压轴赛事

. . . yà zhōu zhí yè pǐ kè qiú xún huí sài sài chéng jiē xiǎo , xiāng gǎng dà mǎn guàn sài jiāng chéng wéi yā zhóu sài shì

[Translation pending - quota exceeded]

NewsFeb 2026

孙颖莎等8名国家队球员晋级新加坡大满赛单打32强

sūn yǐng 莎 děng míng guó jiā duì qiú yuán jìn jí xīn jiā pō dà mǎn guàn sài dān dǎ qiáng

Sun Yingsha and eight other national team players advanced to the round of 32 singles at the Singapore Grand Slam

Tatoeba

看那些踢球的队员们!他们真是全神注啊!

Kàn nàxiē tī qiú de duìyuán men! tāmen zhēnshi quánshénguànzhù ā!

Look at those guys play! They’re really getting stuck in!

Tatoeba

她全神注地写着诗。

Tā quánshénguànzhù de xiě zhe shī.

She was absorbed in writing a poem.

Tatoeba

雅妮和努亚全神注地听斯库拉说话。

Yǎ nī hé nǔ yà quánshénguànzhù de tīng sī kù lā shuōhuà.

Yanni and Nuja listened carefully to Skura.

Tatoeba

一本好书会令你全神注,甚至忘掉周围和自己。

Yī běn hǎo shūhuì lìng nǐ quánshénguànzhù, shènzhì wàngdiào zhōuwéi hé zìjǐ.

A good book can completely absorb your attention, to the extent that you forget your surroundings and even your existence.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced guàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 贯 (guàn) mean in Chinese?
贯 (guàn) primarily means "to penetrate." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1469 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 贯 have?
贯 is written with 8 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 贯?
The radical associated with 贯 is 贝 (shell). This radical appears in many characters related to shell.
What are the components of 贯?
贯 is composed of: 毌 (phonetic), 贝 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱毌贝 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 贯?
Common words with 贯 include: 一贯 (yī guàn, "consistent"); 全神贯注 (quán shén guàn zhù, "(idiom) to concentrate one's attention completely"); 贯穿 (guàn chuān, "to run through"); 连贯 (lián guàn, "to link up (disparate elements)"); 满贯 (mǎn guàn, "to win every trick in a card game"). There are over 36 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 贯 (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 贯 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 贯 and the traditional form is 貫.

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.