绢 (juàn): thin, tough silk fabric

绢 (juàn) is a Chinese character meaning “thin, tough silk fabric.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 纟 (semantic) and 肙 (phonetic). It ranks #3422 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 绢 silk. Its radical form 纟 (silk) appears in many related characters such as 红 (hóng, red), 线 (xiàn, line, thread), 结 (jié, knot, result).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. thin, tough silk fabric

Etymology & Origin

绢

pictophoneticsilk

Decomposition: ⿰纟肙 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
手绢nounshǒu juànhandkerchief
1
Total compounds
0
As first character
100
As last character
0
As middle character

绢 appears in 1 compound words: 0 as the first character, 100 as the last, and 0 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们绢字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men juàn zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "绢."

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

赵伯澐墓出土的“绢面合裆绵裤”是第一批修复项目中损坏最严重的一件。

zhào bó 澐 mù chū tǔ de juàn miàn gě 裆 mián kù shì dì yī pī xiū fù xiàng mù zhōng sǔn huài zuì yán chóng de yī jiàn .

The “silk-lined, crotch-seamed cotton pants” unearthed from Zhao Boshui’s tomb were the most severely damaged item among the first batch of restoration projects.

中国新闻网·文化Jun 2026

俗语称,“纸寿千年,绢寿八百”。

sú yǔ chèn , zhǐ shòu qiān nián , juàn shòu bā bǎi .

As the saying goes, “Paper lasts a thousand years, while silk lasts eight hundred.”

中国新闻网·文化Apr 2026

家庭经济情况不好的也可以用银器镀金代之,一般为绢、银锭等物。

jiā tíng jīng jì qíng kuàng bù hǎo de yě kě yǐ yòng yín qì 镀 jīn dài zhī , yī bān wéi juàn , yín 锭 děng wù .

Those from families with limited financial means may substitute gold-plated silverware; common alternatives include silk and silver ingots.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 纟 (silk) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 绢 (juàn) mean in Chinese?
绢 (juàn) primarily means "thin, tough silk fabric." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3422 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 绢 and 厚?
绢 (juàn) and 厚 (hòu) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 绢 (thin) vs 厚 (thick).
How many strokes does 绢 have?
绢 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 绢?
The radical associated with 绢 is 纟 (silk). This radical appears in many characters related to silk.
What are the components of 绢?
绢 is composed of: 纟 (semantic), 肙 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰纟肙 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 绢?
Common words with 绢 include: 手绢 (shǒu juàn, "handkerchief"). There are over 1 compound words containing this character.
Is 绢 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 绢 and the traditional form is 絹.

Practice writing 绢 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.