(kuān): wide

(kuān) is a Chinese character meaning “wide.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1153 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, roof. Its radical form (roof) appears in many related characters such as (, guest, customer), (jiā, home, family), (, it).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. wide

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticroof

Decomposition: ⿱宀苋 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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
nounkuān dùwidth5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
kuān shùto forgive
kuān rónglenient
kuān changspacious
kuān dàspacious
kuān sōngspacious
fàng kuānto relax (a rule)
kuān wèito console
广kuān guǎngwide
kuān kuòexpansive
kuān yīplease take off your coat (honorific)
kuān xiànto extend (a deadline etc)
cóng kuānlenient
tuò kuānto broaden
kuān xīnrelieved
kuān yùcomfortably off
87
Total compounds
78
As first character
14
As last character
8
As middle character

appears in 87 compound words: 78 as the first character, 14 as the last, and 8 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.

jiǎn
0.73623,010 co-occurrences
qín
0.58522,962 co-occurrences
0.56497,308 co-occurrences
0.56311,982 co-occurrences
kuò
0.5587,188 co-occurrences
shù
0.5483,888 co-occurrences
chǎng
0.5353,329 co-occurrences
duān
0.52024,078 co-occurrences
zhì
0.51922,986 co-occurrences
tuò
0.5129,756 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

kuān dǎ zhǎi yòngHSK 5+

to give oneself leeway (idiom); to allow room for error

phrase
怀kuān dà wéi huáiHSK 5+

magnanimous (idiom); generous

phrase
kuānhóng dàliàngHSK 6+

magnanimous; large-minded; generous

adjective
kuān hóng dà dùHSK 6+

magnanimous; generous; broad-minded

phrase
kuān hóng dà liàngHSK 6+

magnanimous; generous; broad-minded

phrase
kuān xīn wán rHSK 7+

erhua variant of 寬心丸|宽心丸[kuan1 xin1 wan2]

phrase
wài kuān nèi jìHSK 7+

magnanimous on the outside, but hateful on the inside (idiom)

phrase
xīnkuāntǐpánHSK 5+

carefree and contented; fit and happy

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这条马路很,可以容纳六辆车并排行驶。

Zhè tiáo mǎlù hěn kuān, kěyǐ róngnà liù liàng chē bìngpái xíngshǐ.

This road is very wide and can accommodate six cars driving side by side.

東方日報Feb 2026

自民党同意放限制 允许具杀伤力装备出口

zì mín dǎng tóng yì fàng kuān xiàn zhì yǔn xǔ jù shā shāng lì zhuāng bèi chū kǒu

The Liberal Democratic Party agreed to relax restrictions and allow the export of lethal equipment

99 健康网Feb 2026

...窄到一根手指都疼是怎么回事?产后会自然变松吗

. . . zhǎi dào yī gēn shǒu zhǐ dōu téng shì zěn má huí shì ? chǎn hòu huì zì rán biàn kuān sōng ma

... What's going on with it so narrow that it hurts to one finger? Will it naturally become looser after childbirth?

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

消息:暂停电动车首次登记税减非一刀切 有信心无碍政策目标

xiāo xī : zàn tíng diàn dòng chē shǒu cì dēng jì shuì kuān jiǎn fēi yī dāo qiē yǒu xìn xīn wú ài zhèng cè mù biāo

News: The suspension of the first registration tax for electric vehicles is not one-size-fits-all, and I am confident that it will not hinder the policy goal

NewsFeb 2026

王菲连两年春晚开唱!粉丝敲碗办演唱会 姐松口了

wáng 菲 lián liǎng nián chūn wǎn kāi chàng ! fěn sī qiāo wǎn bàn yǎn chàng huì kuān jiě sōng kǒu le

Faye Wong has been singing at the Spring Festival Gala for two consecutive years! Fans knocked on the bowl to hold a concert, and Sister Kuan let go

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

初一忌扫地予适度容 倪可敏吁燃放烟花后自发清理

chū yī jì sǎo dì yú shì dù kuān róng 倪 kě mǐn xū rán fàng yān huā hòu zì fā qīng lǐ

First-day-of-the-year sweeping taboo calls for reasonable tolerance; Nicky Liew urges voluntary cleanup after fireworks display.

Tatoeba

最初的旗袍是松的。

Zuì chū de qípáo shì kuānsōng de.

The original qipao was wide and loose.

Tatoeba

我新家的客厅很敞。

Wǒ xīn jiāde kètīng hěn kuānchang.

The living room in my new house is very large.

Tatoeba

人们常说荷兰人很容。

Rénmen cháng shuō Hélán rén hěn kuānróng.

It is said that Dutch are tolerant.

Tatoeba

严以律己, 以待人。

Yǎnyǐlǜjǐ, kuānyǐdàirén.

Pardon all but thyself.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced kuān

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 宽 (kuān) mean in Chinese?
宽 (kuān) primarily means "wide." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1153 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 宽 and 窄?
宽 (kuān) and 窄 (zhǎi) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 宽 (wide) vs 窄 (narrow).
How many strokes does 宽 have?
宽 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 宽?
The radical associated with 宽 is 宀 (roof). This radical appears in many characters related to roof.
What are the components of 宽?
宽 is composed of: 宀 (semantic), 苋 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱宀苋 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 宽?
Common words with 宽 include: 宽恕 (kuān shù, "to forgive"); 宽容 (kuān róng, "lenient"); 宽敞 (kuān chang, "spacious"); 宽大 (kuān dà, "spacious"); 宽松 (kuān sōng, "spacious"). There are over 87 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 宽 (kuān)?
Several characters share the pronunciation kuān: 款 (section). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 宽 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 宽 and the traditional form is 寬.

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.