(qiān): to move, to shift, to change (a position or location etc)

(qiān) is a Chinese character meaning “to move.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1619 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, walk. Its radical form (walk) appears in many related characters such as (biān, side), (guò, to pass, past), (hái, still, return).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to move
  2. to shift
  3. to change (a position or location etc)

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwalk

Decomposition: ⿺辶千 (layout: surround-from-lower-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qiān xǐto migrate
shēng qiānto advance to a higher-level position
qiān jiùto yield to
qiáo qiānto move (to a superior place)
qiān yíto migrate
bān qiānto move
biàn qiānchanges
qiān nùto take one's anger out on sb (who does not deserve it)
shí guò jìng qiānthings change with the passage of time (idiom)
chāi qiānto demolish a building and relocate the inhabitants
qiáo qiān zhī xǐcongratulations on house-moving or promotion (idiom)
qiān jūto move (from one residence to another)
qiān rùto move in (to new lodging)
shì guò jìng qiānThe issue is in the past, and the situation has changed (idiom).
jiàn yì sī qiānto change at once on seeing sth different (idiom)
40
Total compounds
40
As first character
48
As last character
13
As middle character

appears in 40 compound words: 40 as the first character, 48 as the last, and 13 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.

0.66721,516 co-occurrences
bān
0.63829,688 co-occurrences
0.53036,084 co-occurrences
chāi
0.47810,032 co-occurrences
zhì
0.46973,383 co-occurrences
yuè
0.4633,759 co-occurrences
biàn
0.46317,892 co-occurrences
zhǐ
0.45312,708 co-occurrences
wǎng
0.44728,140 co-occurrences
0.43921,318 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (6)

āntǔzhòngqiānHSK 7+

to hate to leave one's native land or where one has lived long; to love one's homeland and not wish to leave it

phrase
jiànyìsīqiānHSK 7+

to change one's mind the moment one sees something new

phrase
qiáoqiānzhīxǐHSK 7+

happy occasion of moving into a new house; house warming (celebration); promotion (celebration)

phrase
qíngsuíshìqiānHSK 7+

feelings change with circumstance

phrase
shíguòjìngqiānHSK 7+

things change with the passage of time

phrase
shìguòjìngqiānHSK 7+

the issue is in the past and the situation has changed; things change with the passage of time

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字的意思与它的部首有关。

zhè gě qiān zì de yì sī yú tā de bù shǒu yǒu guān .

The meaning of the character "迁" is related to its radical.

News For ChineseFeb 2026

Public Storage总部往Texas

P u b l i c S t o r a g e zǒng bù qiān wǎng T e x a s

Public Storage headquarters moved to Texas

News For ChineseFeb 2026

美国最大自助仓储公司总部从加州德州

měi guó zuì dà zì zhù cāng chǔ gōng sī zǒng bù cóng jiā zhōu qiān dé zhōu

The headquarters of the largest self-storage company in the United States moved from California to Texas

It之家Feb 2026

...2 核心启动器更名 mBoot,版本号跃至 18000

. . . 2 hé xīn qǐ dòng qì gēng míng m B o o t , bǎn běn hào yuè qiān zhì 1 8 0 0 0

... 2 The core launcher was renamed mBoot, and the version number jumped to 18000

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...现薇趋势/超商换血 预示就业市场永久性变

. . . xiàn 薇 qū shì chāo shāng huàn xiě yù shì jiù yè shì chǎng yǒng jiǔ xìng biàn qiān

... The current trend/supermarket blood exchange indicates permanent changes in the job market

東森新聞Feb 2026

立法院址“新地点”! 韩国瑜抛“征收圆山饭店”

lì fǎ yuàn qiān zhǐ xīn dì diǎn ! hán guó 瑜 pāo zhēng shōu yuán shān fàn diàn

The Legislative Yuan moved to a "new location"! Han Kuo-yu threw "expropriation of the Yuanshan Hotel"

Tatoeba

星期五是乔派对!

Xīngqīwǔ shì qiáoqiān pàiduì!

Friday is housewarming party!

Tatoeba

越来越多的人往市区。

Yuèláiyuè duō de rén qiān wǎng shìqū.

More and more people are moving to urban areas.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced qiān

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 迁 (qiān) mean in Chinese?
迁 (qiān) primarily means "to move." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1619 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 迁 have?
迁 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 迁?
The radical associated with 迁 is 辶 (walk). This radical appears in many characters related to walk.
What are the components of 迁?
迁 is composed of: 辶 (semantic), 千 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿺辶千 with a surround-from-lower-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 迁?
Common words with 迁 include: 迁徙 (qiān xǐ, "to migrate"); 升迁 (shēng qiān, "to advance to a higher-level position"); 迁就 (qiān jiù, "to yield to"); 乔迁 (qiáo qiān, "to move (to a superior place)"); 迁移 (qiān yí, "to migrate"). There are over 40 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 迁 (qiān)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qiān: 千 (thousand), 牵 (to lead along), 铅 (lead), 谦 (modest), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 迁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 迁 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.