(huàn): to suffer (from illness), to contract (a disease), misfortune

(huàn) is a Chinese character meaning “to suffer (from illness).” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1242 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. to suffer (from illness)
  2. to contract (a disease)
  3. misfortune

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticheart

Decomposition: ⿱串心 (layout: top-bottom)

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
nounhuàn zhěpatient6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
huàn yǒuto contract (an illness)
huàn bìngto fall ill
yǐn huàna danger concealed within sth
rén mǎn wéi huànpacked with people
huàn nàntrials and tribulations
yǒu bèi wú huànPreparedness averts peril.
huàn érchild patient
fáng huàn yú wèi ránsee 防患未然[fang2 huan4 wei4 ran2]
huàn dé huàn shīto worry about personal gains and losses
huàn chùafflicted part
huàn nàn zhī jiāoa friend in times of tribulations (idiom)
hòu huàn wú qióng(idiom) there will be no end of trouble in the future
wài huànforeign aggression
shuǐ huànflooding
xīn fù zhī huànlit. calamity within one's bosom (idiom)
46
Total compounds
24
As first character
52
As last character
24
As middle character

appears in 46 compound words: 24 as the first character, 52 as the last, and 24 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.

bìng
0.61493,189 co-occurrences
zhě
0.599202,624 co-occurrences
ái
0.56916,243 co-occurrences
0.54419,596 co-occurrences
zhèng
0.54425,309 co-occurrences
尿niào
0.5025,196 co-occurrences
yǐn
0.4987,422 co-occurrences
fèi
0.4765,844 co-occurrences
chuǎn
0.4541,092 co-occurrences
gān
0.4412,820 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (13)

bǎo jīng yōu huànHSK 6+

having experienced much suffering

phrase
fáng huàn wèi méngHSK 7+

to prevent a disaster before the event (idiom); to nip sth in the bud

phrase
fánghuànwèiránHSK 6+

to take preventative measures before a disaster occurs; to prevent trouble before it happens

phrase
hòuhuànwúqióngHSK 6+

to have endless future troubles and calamities

phrase
huàndéhuànshīHSK 6+

to be mean; to be tight-fisted; to be overcautious; to tend to avoid risks

verb
huànnànzhījiāoHSK 6+

a rock (a friend who always helps); a friend through thick and thin

phrase
nèiyōuwàihuànHSK 6+

internal and external troubles; internal upheaval and external invasions

phrase
rénmǎnwéihuànHSK 6+

to cause problems due to being overcrowded; to cause problems due to being packed with people

phrase
xīnfùzhīhuànHSK 7+

serious hidden trouble or danger

noun
yǎnghǔyíhuànHSK 6+

to not eliminate bad people or the enemy and bring future trouble to oneself

phrase
yǒubèiwúhuànHSK 6+

to be prepared against adverse events; just in case

phrase

Showing 11 of 13 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

甘情愿地帮助每一个需要帮助的人。

tā huàn gān qíng yuàn dì bāng zhù měi yī gě xū yāo bāng zhù de rén .

He willingly helps everyone in need.

99 健康网Feb 2026

避孕药的副作用和危害大吗?高血压者能否安全使用口服药

bì yùn yào de fù zuò yòng hé wēi hài dà ma ? gāo xiě yā huàn zhě néng fǒu ān quán shǐ yòng kǒu fú yào

Are the side effects and harm of birth control pills great? Can people with high blood pressure safely use oral medications?

99 健康网Feb 2026

低糖食品有哪些?糖尿病者和减肥人群需求不同吗

dī táng shí pǐn yǒu nǎ xiē ? táng niào bìng huàn zhě hé jiǎn féi rén qún xū qiú bù tóng ma

What are the low-sugar foods? Do diabetics and weight loss people have different needs?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

历史上的今天/1958年台南安定乌脚病赴台大医院治疗

lì shǐ shàng de jīn tiān 1 9 5 8 nián tái nán ān dìng wū jiǎo bìng huàn fù tái dà yī yuàn zhì liáo

Today in history/In 1958, a black-footed patient in Anding, Tainan went to National Taiwan University Hospital for treatment

It之家Feb 2026

...口感染的 EB 病毒取得关键突破,为移植者带来新希望

. . . kǒu gǎn rǎn de E B bìng dú qǔ dé guān jiàn tū pò , wéi yí zhí huàn zhě dài lái xīn xī wàng

... A key breakthrough in orally infected EBV brings new hope to transplant patients

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

斗湖1小时豪雨引发大水 轿车险灭顶多路中断

dǒu hú 1 xiǎo shí háo yǔ yǐn fā dà shuǐ huàn jiào chē xiǎn miè dǐng duō lù zhōng duàn

Tawau 1-hour heavy rain caused heavy flooding, and the car was almost destroyed, and many roads were interrupted

Tatoeba

汤姆是恋童癖者。

Tāngmǔ shì liàntóngpǐ huànzhě.

Tom is a pedophile.

Tatoeba

你是否身需服药的疾病?

Nǐ shìfǒu shēn huàn xū fúyào de jíbìng?

Do you suffer from diseases that require medication?

Tatoeba

我想检查一下我是否了乳癌。

Wǒ xiǎng jiǎnchá yīxià wǒ shìfǒu huàn le rǔ'ái.

I'd like to have a test for breast cancer.

Tatoeba

我的父親是癌症死的。

Wǒ de fùqīn shì huàn áizhèng sǐ de.

My father died of cancer.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced huàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 患 (huàn) mean in Chinese?
患 (huàn) primarily means "to suffer (from illness)." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1242 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 患 have?
患 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 患?
The radical associated with 患 is 忄 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.
What are the components of 患?
患 is composed of: 串 (phonetic), 心 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱串心 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 患?
Common words with 患 include: 患者 (huàn zhě, "patient"); 患有 (huàn yǒu, "to contract (an illness)"); 患病 (huàn bìng, "to fall ill"); 隐患 (yǐn huàn, "a danger concealed within sth"); 人满为患 (rén mǎn wéi huàn, "packed with people"). There are over 46 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 患 (huàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation huàn: 欢 (hubbub), 环 (ring), 缓 (slow, delay), 幻 (fantasy), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 患 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 患 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.