宦 (huàn): surname Huan, imperial official

宦 (huàn) is a Chinese character meaning “imperial official.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 宀 (structural) and 臣 (structural). It ranks #4939 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 宦 a minister 臣 in a statehouse 宀. Its radical form 宀 (roof) appears in many related characters such as 家 (jiā, home, family), 室 (shì, room), 客 (kè, guest, customer).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. surname Huan
  2. imperial official

Etymology & Origin

宦

ideographicA minister 臣 in a statehouse 宀

Decomposition: ⿱宀臣 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
官宦nounguān huànfunctionary
宦官nounhuàn guāncourt eunuch
官宦人家guān huàn rén jiāfamily of a functionary (i.e. educated middle class in Qing times)
宦海风波huàn hǎi fēng bōlit. raging sea of bureaucracy
宦门huàn ménfamily of officials
宦海nounhuàn hǎiofficialdom
显宦xiǎn huànhigh official
宦骑huàn qíhorse guard
羁宦jī huàn(literary) to serve as a government official far from one's native place
仕宦verbshì huàn(literary) to serve as an official
10
Total compounds
50
As first character
40
As last character
10
As middle character

宦 appears in 10 compound words: 50 as the first character, 40 as the last, and 10 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

官宦人家guān huàn rén jiā

family of a functionary (i.e. educated middle class in Qing times)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

写好宦字需要掌握正确的笔画顺序。

xiě hǎo Huàn zì xū yāo zhǎng wò zhèng què de bǐ huà shùn xù .

To write the character "宦" correctly, you need to follow the correct stroke order.

中国新闻网·文化May 2026

这样的表达,正是对王阳明所生活的时代“宦官当权”环境的隐喻。

zhè yàng de biǎo dá , zhèng shì duì wáng yáng míng suǒ shēng huó de shí dài Huàn guān dāng quán huán jìng de yǐn yù .

This expression serves as a metaphor for the “eunuchs in power” that characterized the era in which Wang Yangming lived.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 宦 (huàn) mean in Chinese?
宦 (huàn) primarily means "imperial official." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #4939 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 宦 have?
宦 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 宦?
The radical associated with 宦 is 宀 (roof). This radical appears in many characters related to roof.
What are the components of 宦?
宦 is composed of: 宀 (structural), 臣 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱宀臣 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 宦?
Common words with 宦 include: 官宦 (guān huàn, "functionary"); 宦官 (huàn guān, "court eunuch"); 官宦人家 (guān huàn rén jiā, "family of a functionary (i.e. educated middle class in Qing times)"); 宦海风波 (huàn hǎi fēng bō, "lit. raging sea of bureaucracy"); 宦门 (huàn mén, "family of officials"). There are over 10 compound words containing this character.
Is 宦 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 宦 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 宦 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.