(juǎn): to roll up, (fig.) to sweep up, to engulf, to drag into (a situation), (slang) to compete to an unhealthy degree, hypercompetitive

(juǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “to roll up.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1015 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, a curled up scroll 㔾. Its radical form (seal) appears in many related characters such as (yìn, abbr. for 印度, India), (wèi, vassal state during the Zhou Dynasty (1066–221 BC), located in present-day Henan and Hebei Provinces), (wēi, danger).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to roll up
  2. (fig.) to sweep up
  3. to engulf
  4. to drag into (a situation)
  5. (slang) to compete to an unhealthy degree
  6. hypercompetitive

Etymology & Origin

ideographicA curled up scroll 㔾

Decomposition: ⿱龹㔾 (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
nounshì juànexamination paper5
nounwèn juànquestionnaire5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
juǎn rùto be drawn into
lóng juǎn fēngtornado
dàn juǎnegg roll
juǎn fàcurly hair
juàn zōngfile
xí juǎnto engulf
jiāo juǎnroll of film
juǎn xīn càicabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) ()
juǎn tǔ chóng láilit. to return in a swirl of dust (idiom)
juàn zhóuscroll (book or painting)
kǎo juànexam paper
chūn juǎnegg roll
juǎn zisteamed roll
àn juànrecords
juǎn qǐvariant of 捲起|卷起[juan3 qi3]
100
Total compounds
43
As first character
43
As last character
14
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 43 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 14 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.

shí
0.612493,242 co-occurrences
zhì
0.580169,920 co-occurrences
bǎi
0.572165,576 co-occurrences
0.52873,542 co-occurrences
0.510108,648 co-occurrences
liù
0.509129,420 co-occurrences
0.508114,408 co-occurrences
èr
0.505245,280 co-occurrences
jiǔ
0.49997,272 co-occurrences
0.497175,290 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (5)

juǎn shé yuán yīnHSK 6+

retroflex vowel (e.g. the final r of putonghua)

phrase
juǎntǔchóngláiHSK 5+

to stage a comeback after regaining one's strength

phrase
kāijuànyǒuyìHSK 5+

reading is beneficial

proverb
shǒubùshìjuànHSK 5+

diligent and eager to study; studious

phrase
juàn zhì hào fánHSK 7+

a huge amount (of books and papers)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字虽然难写,但意思很有趣。

juǎn zì suī rán nán xiě , dàn yì sī hěn yǒu qù .

The character "卷" may be difficult to write, but its meaning is quite interesting.

TvbsFeb 2026

张琼姿餐厅入高金素梅涉贪案 昔“车内密会潘若迪”险...

zhāng 琼 zī cān tīng juǎn rù gāo jīn sù méi shè tān àn xī chē nèi mì huì pān ruò dí xiǎn . . .

Zhang Qiongzi's restaurant was involved in Gao Jin Sumei's corruption case, and the former "secret meeting with Pan Ruodi in the car" was dangerous...

東森新聞Feb 2026

高金素梅诈助理费再扩大!张琼姿餐厅贪污案

gāo jīn sù méi zhà zhù lǐ fèi zài kuò dà ! zhāng 琼 zī cān tīng juǎn tān wū àn

Gao Jin Sumei's fraud assistant fee is expanded again! Zhang Qiongzi's restaurant is involved in the corruption case

EttodayFeb 2026

高金素梅涉贪扩大! 张琼姿餐厅

gāo jīn sù méi shè tān kuò dà ! zhāng 琼 zī cān tīng juǎn rù

Gao Jin Sumei's corruption expands! Zhang Qiongzi's restaurant was involved

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

...深度] 川普重整关税工具箱 全球贸易乱局土重来

. . . shēn dù chuān pǔ chóng zhěng guān shuì gōng jù xiāng quán qiú mào yì luàn jú juǎn tǔ chóng lái

... Trump reorganizes the tariff toolbox and the global trade chaos is back

百度新闻Feb 2026

年味上墙!静安这幅“邻里新画”,让老小区变成了“..

nián wèi shàng qiáng ! jìng ān zhè fú lín lǐ xīn huà juǎn , ràng lǎo xiǎo qū biàn chéng le . .

New Year's flavor on the wall! Jing'an's "new picture of the neighborhood" has turned the old community into a ":

Tatoeba

海啸席稻田, 淹没了城镇。

Hǎixiào xíjuǎn dàotián, yānmò le chéngzhèn.

Tsunamis swept through rice fields and flooded the towns.

Tatoeba

汤姆起裤管,露出鲜红的袜子。

Tāngmǔ juǎnqǐ kùguǎn, lùchū xiānhóng de wàzi.

Tom rolled up his trouser legs, making his bright red socks visible.

Tatoeba

由于产量过剩,心菜的价格下降了。

Yóuyú chǎnliàng guòshèng, juǎnxīncài de jiàgé xiàjiàng le.

The price of cabbage fell because of overproduction.

Tatoeba

嗨, 我要一个炸薄饼

Hāi, wǒ yào yī gè zhá báobǐng juǎn.

Hi, I'd like a deep-fried pizza roll.

Character Family

Radical Family — Characters sharing the seal radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced juǎn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 卷 (juǎn) mean in Chinese?
卷 (juǎn) primarily means "to roll up." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1015 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 卷 and 下?
卷 (juǎn) and 下 (xià) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 卷 (up) vs 下 (down).
How many strokes does 卷 have?
卷 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 卷?
The radical associated with 卷 is 卩 (seal). This radical appears in many characters related to seal.
What are the components of 卷?
卷 is composed of: 龹 (structural), 㔾 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱龹㔾 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 卷?
Common words with 卷 include: 卷入 (juǎn rù, "to be drawn into"); 龙卷风 (lóng juǎn fēng, "tornado"); 蛋卷 (dàn juǎn, "egg roll"); 卷发 (juǎn fà, "curly hair"); 卷宗 (juàn zōng, "file"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 卷 (juǎn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation juǎn: 捐 (to relinquish), 倦 (tired), 圈 (to confine). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 卷 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 卷 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.