军 (jūn): (bound form) army, military

军 (jūn) is a Chinese character meaning “(bound form) army.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 冖 (structural) and 车 (structural). It ranks #102 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 军 soldiers 冖 (distorted 力) in a cart 车. Its radical form 冖 (cover) appears in many related characters such as 写 (xiě, to write), 农 (nóng, (bound form) agriculture), 冠 (guàn, to be first).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (bound form) army
  2. military

Etymology & Origin

军

ideographicSoldiers 冖 (distorted 力) in a cart 车

Decomposition: ⿱冖车 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 军

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
将军nounjiāng jūngeneral6
冠军nounguàn jūnchampion5
军队nounjūn duìarmed forces6
军人nounjūn rénserviceman6
亚军nounyà jūnsecond place (in a sports contest)6
季军nounjì jūnthird in a race6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
海军nounhǎi jūnnavy
军事nounjūn shìmilitary affairs
空军nounkōng jūnair force
军官nounjūn guānofficer (military)
童子军nountóng zǐ jūnchild soldiers
军方nounjūn fāngmilitary
军士nounjūn shìsoldier
军团nounjūn tuáncorps
陆军nounlù jūnarmy
美军proper-nounměi jūnUS army
军火nounjūn huǒweapons and ammunition
参军verbcān jūnto join the army
军用adjectivejūn yòng(for) military use
叛军nounpàn jūnrebel army
敌军noundí jūnenemy troops
110
Total compounds
53
As first character
45
As last character
3
As middle character

军 appears in 110 compound words: 53 as the first character, 45 as the last, and 3 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 军 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

冠guàn
0.595141,659 co-occurrences
将jiāng
0.585150,578 co-occurrences
衔xián
0.57625,100 co-occurrences
陆lù
0.56058,006 co-occurrences
阀fá
0.5295,780 co-occurrences
队duì
0.505129,052 co-occurrences
红hóng
0.49630,482 co-occurrences
海hǎi
0.482117,758 co-occurrences
事shì
0.473128,922 co-occurrences
团tuán
0.46944,614 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (20)

八国联军bā guó lián jūnHSK 5+

Eight-Nation Alliance, involved in a military intervention in northern China in 1900

phrase
北洋军阀Běiyáng JūnfáHSK 7+

Beiyang Army

狗头军师gǒutóujūnshīHSK 5+

an incompetent person who likes to give suggestions to others

phrase
孤军奋战gūjūnfènzhànHSK 6+

lone army putting up a brave fight; fighting alone without help; struggling hard without support

phrase
横扫千军héng sǎo qiān jūnHSK 6+

total annihilation

phrase
黄埔军校Huángpǔ Jūnxiào

an institution that is deemed an industry standard, has industry-wide influence, and produces industry talents

军国主义jūn guó zhǔ yìHSK 5+

militarism

phrase
军情六处Jūnqíng Liù ChùHSK 5+

Secret Intelligence Service (SIS); MI6

军事法庭jūnshì fǎtíngHSK 5+

military court; military tribunal; court martial

noun
军事基地jūn shì jī dìHSK 5+

military base

phrase
军事设施jūn shì shè shīHSK 5+

military installations

phrase
军事体育jūn shì tǐ yùHSK 5+

military sports; military fitness (curriculum etc); abbr. to 軍體|军体

phrase

Showing 12 of 20 idioms containing 军.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

军字虽然难写,但意思很有趣。

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

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

Irna ChineseFeb 2026

沙特阿拉伯前官员:任何对伊朗的军事打击都将是一场代价高昂的豪赌

shā tè ā lā bó qián guān yuán : rèn hé duì yī lǎng de jūn shì dǎ jī dōu jiāng shì yī chǎng dài jià gāo áng de háo dǔ

Former Saudi Arabian official: Any military strike on Iran will be a costly gamble

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

...奥会)冰雪“意”犹未尽:米兰冬奥会上中国军团的“名场面”

. . . ào huì ) bīng xuě yì yóu wèi jǐn : mǐ lán dōng ào huì shàng zhōng guó jūn tuán de míng chǎng miàn

... Olympic Games) Ice and snow "meaning" is not finished: the "famous scene" of the Chinese legion at the Milan Winter Olympics

NewtalkFeb 2026

中国网军4千帐户攻击高市早苗 矢板明夫:台日两国...

zhōng guó wǎng jūn 4 qiān zhàng hù gōng jī gāo shì zǎo miáo shǐ bǎn míng fū : tái rì liǎng guó . . .

China's Cyber Army 4,000 accounts attacked Sanae Takaichi Akio Yaita: Taiwan and Japan...

WorldjournalFeb 2026

俄军打击乌能源设施 乌克兰多地大面积停电

é jūn dǎ jī wū néng yuán shè shī wū kè lán duō dì dà miàn jī tíng diàn

Russian forces hit Ukrainian energy facilities Large-scale power outages in many places in Ukraine

百度新闻Feb 2026

冬奥会|家乡连线:“我儿子是冠军!”——宁忠岩家乡..

dōng ào huì jiā xiāng lián xiàn : wǒ ér zǐ shì guàn jūn ! — — nìng zhōng yán jiā xiāng . .

Winter Olympics|Hometown Connection: "My son is a champion!" ——Ning Zhongyan's hometown:

Tatoeba

拿破仑率军到俄罗斯。

Nápòlún lǜ jūn dào éluósī.

Napoleon led his troops to Russia.

Tatoeba

政府应该彻底加强军队建设!

Zhèngfǔ yīnggāi chèdǐ jiāqiáng jūnduì jiànshè!

The government should strengthen their army once and for all!

Tatoeba

苏联军队开始从阿富汗撤军了。

Sūlián jūnduì kāishǐ cóng āfùhàn chèjūn le.

The Soviet troops started to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Tatoeba

我们军队总是被游击队骚扰。

Wǒmen jūnduì zǒngshì bèi yóujīduì sāorǎo.

Our troops were constantly attacked by the guerrillas.

Character Family

冖 Radical Family — Characters sharing the cover radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced jūn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 军 (jūn) mean in Chinese?
军 (jūn) primarily means "(bound form) army." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #102 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 军 have?
军 is written with 6 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 军?
The radical associated with 军 is 冖 (cover). This radical appears in many characters related to cover.
What are the components of 军?
军 is composed of: 冖 (structural), 车 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱冖车 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 军?
Common words with 军 include: 将军 (jiāng jūn, "general"); 冠军 (guàn jūn, "champion"); 军队 (jūn duì, "armed forces"); 海军 (hǎi jūn, "navy"); 军事 (jūn shì, "military affairs"). There are over 110 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 军 (jūn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation jūn: 均 ((bound form) equal), 君 (monarch), 菌 (germ), 俊 (smart), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 军 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 军 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 军 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.