坚 (jiān): strong, solid, firm

坚 (jiān) is a Chinese character meaning “strong.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 又 (structural) and 土 (structural). It ranks #748 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. strong
  2. solid
  3. firm

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 坚

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
坚持verbjiān chíto persevere with3
坚强adjectivejiān qiángstaunch5
坚定adjective/verbjiān dìngfirm6
坚决adjectivejiān juéfirm6
坚固adjectivejiān gùfirm6
坚硬adjectivejiān yìnghard6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
坚信verbjiān xìnto believe firmly
坚果nounjiān guǒnut
坚守verbjiān shǒuto hold fast to
坚实adjectivejiān shífirm and substantial
坚持不懈phrasejiān chí bù xiè(idiom) to persevere unremittingly
坚韧adjectivejiān rèntough and durable
坚不可摧phrasejiān bù kě cuī(idiom) invulnerable
坚挺adjectivejiān tǐngfirm and upright
美利坚proper-nounměi lì jiānAmerica
坚定不移phrasejiān dìng bù yíunswerving
坚称verbjiān chēngto claim
坚毅adjectivejiān yìfirm and persistent
中坚nounzhōng jiāncore
坚忍adjectivejiān rěnpersevering
无坚不摧phrasewú jiān bù cuīno stronghold one cannot overcome (idiom)
60
Total compounds
72
As first character
17
As last character
12
As middle character

坚 appears in 60 compound words: 72 as the first character, 17 as the last, and 12 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 坚 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

持chí
0.54325,437 co-occurrences
韧rèn
0.5371,092 co-occurrences
贫pín
0.5071,312 co-occurrences
决jué
0.5047,472 co-occurrences
固gù
0.4903,638 co-occurrences
锻duàn
0.46214 co-occurrences
守shǒu
0.4594,771 co-occurrences
脱tuō
0.4511,310 co-occurrences
硬yìng
0.4451,938 co-occurrences
懈xiè
0.438307 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (13)

乘坚策肥chéng jiān cè féiHSK 6+

to live in luxury; lit. to ride a solid carriage pulled by fat horses

phrase
坚壁清野jiānbìqīngyěHSK 6+

to fortify defences and evacuate all civilians and supplies; scorched-earth policy

phrase
坚不可摧jiānbùkěcuīHSK 7+

extremely firm; indestructible; impregnable

phrase
坚持不懈jiānchíbùxièHSK 7+

to persevere; to keep going until the end

phrase
坚定不移jiāndìngbùyíHSK 5+

resolute; unswerving

phrase
坚苦卓绝jiān kǔ zhuó juéHSK 7+

persisting despite trials and tribulations (idiom); conspicuous determination

phrase
坚忍不拔jiān rěn bù báHSK 6+

fortitude

phrase
坚韧不拔jiānrènbùbáHSK 7+

firm and indomitable; persistent and dauntless; persevere in tenacious efforts

phrase
坚贞不屈jiānzhēnbùqūHSK 7+

faithful and unyielding

phrase
穷当益坚qióng dāng yì jiānHSK 5+

poor but ambitious (idiom); hard-pressed but determined; the worse one's position, the harder one must fight back

phrase
无坚不摧wújiānbùcuīHSK 7+

to overrun all fortifications; to carry all before one; to be all-conquering

phrase
坚如磐石jiānrúpánshíHSK 5+

extremely firm or solid

phrase

Showing 12 of 13 idioms containing 坚.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这座古坚已经有两千多年的历史了。

zhè zuò gǔ jiān yǐ jīng yǒu liǎng qiān duō nián de lì shǐ le .

This ancient fortress has a history of over two thousand years.

99 健康网Feb 2026

无糖的食物一览表有哪些?燕麦、坚果、蔬菜都算吗

wú táng de shí wù yī lǎn biǎo yǒu nǎ xiē ? yān mài , jiān guǒ , shū cài dōu suàn ma

What is the list of sugar-free foods? Oats, nuts, and vegetables all count

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...拿马政府接管长和旗下港口 华外交部 : 坚决维护企业正当权益

. . . ná mǎ zhèng fǔ jiē guǎn cháng hé qí xià gǎng kǒu huá wài jiāo bù : jiān jué wéi hù qǐ yè zhèng dāng quán yì

... The Nama government takes over the Changhe and its ports The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China: Resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises

EttodayFeb 2026

“厂商是谁”答不出来坚持要汇40万 万华警打醒诈骗话术

hǎn shāng shì shéi dā bù chū lái jiān chí yāo huì 4 0 wàn wàn huá jǐng dǎ xǐng zhà piàn huà shù

"Who is the manufacturer" can't answer, insisting on remitting 400,000 yuan, Wanhua police wake up fraud

百度新闻Feb 2026

致敬坚守者:宝山这些身影温暖了我们的团圆年|在...

zhì jìng jiān shǒu zhě : bǎo shān zhè xiē shēn yǐng wēn nuǎn le wǒ men de tuán yuán nián zài . . .

Salute to the adherents: These figures of Baoshan warmed our reunion year|In...

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春“不打烊”:梁山港的坚守与奋进

xīn chūn bù dǎ 烊 : liáng shān gǎng de jiān shǒu yǔ fèn jìn

New Year "not closed": Liangshan Port's perseverance and progress

Tatoeba

这个梯子是否足够坚固以承受我的重量?

Zhège tīzi shìfǒu zúgòu jiāngù yǐ chéngshòu wǒ de zhòngliàng?

Is this ladder strong enough to bear my weight?

Tatoeba

咬紧牙关坚持到底!

Yǎojǐnyáguān jiānchí dàodǐ!

Grit your teeth and bear it!

Tatoeba

我坚信他是无辜的。

Wǒ jiānxìn tā shì wúgū de.

I have a firm belief in his innocence.

Tatoeba

吉米坚持要我带他去动物园。

Jímǐ jiānchí yào wǒ dài tā qù dòngwùyuán.

Jimmy insisted on my taking him to the zoo.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced jiān

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 坚 (jiān) mean in Chinese?
坚 (jiān) primarily means "strong." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #748 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 坚 and 淡?
坚 (jiān) and 淡 (dàn) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 坚 (strong) vs 淡 (weak).
How many strokes does 坚 have?
坚 is written with 7 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 坚?
The radical associated with 坚 is 土 (earth). This radical appears in many characters related to earth.
What are the components of 坚?
坚 is composed of: 又 (structural), 土 (structural). Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 坚?
Common words with 坚 include: 坚持 (jiān chí, "to persevere with"); 坚强 (jiān qiáng, "staunch"); 坚信 (jiān xìn, "to believe firmly"); 坚定 (jiān dìng, "firm"); 坚决 (jiān jué, "firm"). There are over 60 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 坚 (jiān)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jiān: 间 (room, between), 见 (to see), 件 (item, matter), 建 (to establish), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 坚 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 坚 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 坚 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.