(nián): to glue, to paste, to adhere, to stick to

(nián) is a Chinese character meaning “to glue.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2185 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, grain. Its radical form (rice) appears in many related characters such as (, uncooked rice), (lèi, kind), (jīng, essence).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to glue
  2. to paste
  3. to adhere
  4. to stick to

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticgrain

Decomposition: ⿰米占 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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
verbzhān tiēto stick6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
nián hū hūsticky
nián liánto adhere
nián chóuviscous
bù zhān guōnon-stick pan
nián pí zhuó gǔsee 粘皮帶骨|粘皮带骨[nian2 pi2 dai4 gu3]
nián pí dài gǔ(old) (idiom) muddled
zhān jiēto bond
zhān chuán yúshark sucker (Echeneis naucrates)
zhān kòu dàivelcro
mó guǐ zhān(Tw) Velcro fastener
nián jùto cohere
nián chóngarmy worm (e.g. Mythimna separata or Leucania separata etc, major cereal pests)
zhān kòuvelcro
nián chánto stick closely to
nián nuòsticky
16
Total compounds
88
As first character
6
As last character
6
As middle character

appears in 16 compound words: 88 as the first character, 6 as the last, and 6 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.

chóu
0.5991,806 co-occurrences
miǎo
0.576636 co-occurrences
tiē
0.5582,262 co-occurrences
0.5442,856 co-occurrences
0.5213,882 co-occurrences
0.4971,938 co-occurrences
0.4948,868 co-occurrences
zhì
0.482522 co-occurrences
jiāo
0.458870 co-occurrences
cháng
0.429312 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

nián pí dài gǔHSK 6+

(old) (idiom) muddled; indecisive; plodding

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí nián zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Mastering the art of writing characters requires repeated practice to achieve neatness.

SmzdmMar 2026

...凉油的原理......煎鸡蛋 #煎鸡蛋不锅做法 #铁锅 #美食教程 #铁锅不

. . . liáng yóu de yuán lǐ . . . . . . jiān jī dàn jiān jī dàn bù nián guō zuò fǎ tiě guō měi shí jiào chéng tiě guō bù nián guō

...The principle behind using cold oil......Frying eggs #How to fry eggs without sticking #Cast iron skillet #Cooking tutorial #Non-stick cast iron skillet

99 健康网Mar 2026

女生得了闭经怎么调理?宫腔连需做宫腔镜手术分离吗

nǚ shēng dé le bì jīng zěn má diào lǐ ? gōng qiāng nián lián xū zuò gōng qiāng jìng shǒu shù fēn lí ma

How to treat girls with amenorrhea? Does hysteroscopic surgery be needed for uterine adhesions?

99 健康网Feb 2026

宫腔内不均质回声是什么意思?和炎症或连有关联吗

gōng qiāng nèi bù jūn zhì huí shēng shì shén má yì sī ? hé yán zhèng huò nián lián yǒu guān lián ma

What does intrauterine heterogeneous echo mean? Is it related to inflammation or adhesions?

99 健康网Feb 2026

...到一根手指都疼是怎么回事?会不会是手术后连造成

. . . dào yī gēn shǒu zhǐ dōu téng shì zěn má huí shì ? huì bù huì shì shǒu shù hòu nián lián zào chéng

... What's going on with a finger that hurts? Could it be caused by adhesions after surgery?

It之家Feb 2026

...水材料热稳定性难题,让热咖啡、热牛奶不再

. . . shuǐ cái liào rè wěn dìng xìng nán tí , ràng rè kā fēi , rè niú nǎi bù zài nián bì

... The thermal stability problem of water materials makes hot coffee and hot milk no longer stick to the wall

Tatoeba

汤姆的鞋底了口香糖。

Tāngmǔ de xiédǐ zhān le kǒuxiāngtáng.

There was some chewing gum on the sole of Tom's shoe.

Tatoeba

你头发上着什么东西。

Nǐ tóufa shàng zhān zhe shénme dōngxi.

There's something in your hair.

Tatoeba

汤姆把它重新了起来。

Tāngmǔ bǎ tā chóngxīn zhān le qǐlai.

Tom glued it back together.

Tatoeba

您今天早上醒来的时候您的眼皮有没有在一起?

Nín jīntiān zǎoshang xǐnglái de shíhou nín de yǎnpí yǒuméiyǒu zhān zàiyīqǐ?

Were your eyelids stuck together when you woke up this morning?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced nián

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 粘 (nián) mean in Chinese?
粘 (nián) primarily means "to glue." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2185 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 粘 and 点?
粘 (nián) and 点 (diǎn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 米 vs 灬 (same 占 component).
How many strokes does 粘 have?
粘 is written with 11 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 粘?
The radical associated with 粘 is 米 (rice). This radical appears in many characters related to rice.
What are the components of 粘?
粘 is composed of: 米 (semantic), 占 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰米占 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 粘?
Common words with 粘 include: 粘乎乎 (nián hū hū, "sticky"); 粘贴 (zhān tiē, "to stick"); 粘连 (nián lián, "to adhere"); 粘稠 (nián chóu, "viscous"); 不粘锅 (bù zhān guō, "non-stick pan"). There are over 16 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 粘 (nián)?
Several characters share the pronunciation nián: 黏 (sticky), 年 (year), 念 (to read, to think of). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 粘 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 粘 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.