浅 (qiǎn): shallow
浅 (qiǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “shallow.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 戋 (phonetic). It ranks #1705 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 浅 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).
Definitions
- shallow
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 浅 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 肤浅adjective | fū qiǎn | superficial |
| 浅薄adjective | qiǎn bó | superficial |
| 搁浅verb | gē qiǎn | to run aground |
| 受益匪浅 | shòu yì fěi qiǎn | to benefit (from) |
| 目光短浅phrase | mù guāng duǎn qiǎn | to be shortsighted |
| 浅色noun | qiǎn sè | light color |
| 浅水noun | qiǎn shuǐ | shallow water |
| 浅滩noun | qiǎn tān | shallows |
| 浅显adjective | qiǎn xiǎn | (of written or spoken material) easy to understand |
| 害人不浅phrase | hài rén bù qiǎn | (idiom) (usu. of behaviors, systems or trends etc) to cause people tremendous harm |
| 深浅noun | shēn qiǎn | deep or shallow |
| 浅海noun | qiǎn hǎi | shallow sea |
| 短浅adjective | duǎn qiǎn | narrow and shallow |
| 浅尝辄止phrase | qiǎn cháng zhé zhǐ | (lit.) to stop after taking just a sip (idiom) |
| 粗浅adjective | cū qiǎn | shallow |
浅 appears in 51 compound words: 63 as the first character, 29 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 浅 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (8)
Showing 7 of 8 idioms containing 浅.
Example Sentences
这片海滩的水很浅，走出一百米远水深才到腰部。
Zhè piàn hǎitān de shuǐ hěn qiǎn, zǒu chū yìbǎi mǐ yuǎn shuǐshēn cái dào yāobù.
The water at this beach is very shallow; you have to walk one hundred meters out before the water reaches waist depth.
班台2河口河床日浅 黄渼沄:引发生态问题
bān tái 2 hé kǒu hé chuáng rì qiǎn huáng 渼 沄 : yǐn fā shēng tài wèn tí
The estuary bed of Pantai 2 is shallow Huang Meiyun: causing ecological problems
快讯/23:49宜兰近海规模4.4“极浅层地震” 最大震度4级
kuài xùn 2 3 : 4 9 yí lán jìn hǎi guī mó 4 . 4 jí qiǎn céng dì zhèn zuì dà zhèn dù 4 jí
News/23:49 Yilan offshore magnitude 4.4 "extremely shallow earthquake" maximum seismic intensity 4
视帝真田广之怒吼“给我过来!”浅野忠信回归决一死战
shì dì zhēn tián guǎng zhī nù hǒu gěi wǒ guò lái ! qiǎn yě zhōng xìn huí guī jué yī sǐ zhàn
Emperor Sanada Hiroyuki roared, "Come over to me!" Tadanobu Asano returns to fight to the death
小虎鲸屏东搁浅4死 7只获救野放
xiǎo hǔ jīng bǐng dōng gē qiǎn sǐ zhī huò jiù yě fàng
Baby killer whales ran aground in Pingtung, 4 died, and 7 were rescued and released into the wild
从经理心腹变边缘主管?资浅女上司带不动部属 网友直指重点
cóng jīng lǐ xīn fù biàn biān yuán zhǔ guǎn ? zī qiǎn nǚ shàng sī dài bù dòng bù shǔ wǎng yǒu zhí zhǐ chóng diǎn
From Manager's Right-Hand Woman to Marginalized Supervisor? Inexperienced Female Boss Struggles to Lead Team—Netizens Pinpoint the Crux
他在工作中经验尚浅。
Tā zài gōngzuò zhōng jīngyàn shàng qiǎn.
He is still green at the job.
一条受伤的鲸鱼在海滩边搁浅了。
Yī tiáo shòushāng de jīngyú zài hǎitān biān gēqiǎn le.
A wounded whale washed up on the beach.
他用浅显的英语演讲。
Tā yòng qiǎnxiǎn de Yīngyǔ yǎnjiǎng.
He made a speech in plain English.
我睡觉很浅，容易醒。
Wǒ shuìjiào hěn qiǎn, róngyì xǐng.
I'm a light sleeper.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 浅 (qiǎn) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 浅 and 深?
How many strokes does 浅 have?
What is the radical of 浅?
What are the components of 浅?
What are common words containing 浅?
What characters sound the same as 浅 (qiǎn)?
Is 浅 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 浅 with real-time feedback
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