笺 (jiān): letter, note-paper

笺 (jiān) is a Chinese character meaning “letter.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺮ (semantic) and 戋 (phonetic). It ranks #3823 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 笺 bamboo. Its radical form 竹 (bamboo) appears in many related characters such as 第 (dì, (prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六 "sixth")), 等 (děng, to wait for), 笑 (xiào, to laugh).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. letter
  2. note-paper

Etymology & Origin

笺

pictophoneticbamboo

Decomposition: ⿱⺮戋 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
信笺nounxìn jiānletter
便笺nounbiàn jiāna note
笺注jiān zhùto annotate (ancient texts)
3
Total compounds
33
As first character
67
As last character
0
As middle character

笺 appears in 3 compound words: 33 as the first character, 67 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

一张张泛黄单薄的纸笺,写尽游子思念与牵挂,牢牢维系着海外侨胞与故土亲人的血脉亲情。

yī zhāng zhāng fàn huáng dān báo de zhǐ jiān , xiě jǐn yóu zǐ sī niàn yǔ qiān guà , láo láo wéi xì zhe hǎi wài qiáo bāo yǔ gù tǔ qīn rén de xiě mài qīn qíng .

Each yellowed, thin sheet of paper is imbued with the longing and concern of those living far from home, firmly binding the blood ties between overseas Chinese and their loved ones back home.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

束景南遗着《阳明诗赋编年笺证》在沪首发

shù jǐng nán yí zhe yáng míng shī fù biān nián jiān zhèng zài hù shǒu fā

Shu Jingnan’s Posthumous Work, *Chronological Annotated Edition of Yangming’s Poetry and Prose*, Debuts in Shanghai

IT之家Jul 2026

活动期间每日心愿互动享三倍好感度,更有活动专属配饰、对影行游笺等丰富奖励。

huó dòng qī jiān měi rì xīn yuàn hù dòng xiǎng sān bèi hǎo gǎn dù , gèng yǒu huó dòng zhuān shǔ pèi shì , duì yǐng xíng yóu jiān děng fēng fù jiǎng lì .

During the event, you'll earn triple affection points for daily "Wish" interactions, plus a variety of rewards, including event-exclusive accessories and "Walking in the Shadows" travel notes.

中国新闻网·文化Jul 2026

【文化雪域】布达拉宫旁,一纸信笺往来山海

wén huà xuě yù bù dá lā gōng páng , yī zhǐ xìn jiān wǎng lái shān hǎi

[Cultural Snowlands] Next to the Potala Palace, a Letter Travels Between Mountains and Seas

中国新闻网·文化Jul 2026

最特别的一幅,被写在明代项元汴收藏过的宋笺上,笺上钤有项氏鉴藏印。

zuì tè bié de yī fú , bèi xiě zài míng dài xiàng yuán 汴 shōu zàng guò de sòng jiān shàng , jiān shàng 钤 yǒu xiàng shì jiàn zàng yìn .

The most remarkable piece is written on a Song-dynasty note once collected by Xiang Yuanbian of the Ming Dynasty; the note bears the Xiang family’s collector’s seal.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the ⺮ (bamboo) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 笺 (jiān) mean in Chinese?
笺 (jiān) primarily means "letter." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3823 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 笺 and 线?
笺 (jiān) and 线 (xiàn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 竹 vs 纟 (same 戋 component).
How many strokes does 笺 have?
笺 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 笺?
The radical associated with 笺 is 竹 (bamboo). This radical appears in many characters related to bamboo.
What are the components of 笺?
笺 is composed of: ⺮ (semantic), 戋 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱⺮戋 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 笺?
Common words with 笺 include: 信笺 (xìn jiān, "letter"); 便笺 (biàn jiān, "a note"); 笺注 (jiān zhù, "to annotate (ancient texts)"). There are over 3 compound words containing this character.
Is 笺 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 笺 and the traditional form is 椾.

Practice writing 笺 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.