(qián): hidden, secret, latent

(qián) is a Chinese character meaning “hidden.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1111 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. hidden
  2. secret
  3. latent

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵替 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

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
nounqián lìpotential6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qián shuǐto dive
qián zàihidden
qián tǐnga submarine
qián rùto submerge
qián yì shíunconscious mind
qián zhìpotential
qián táoto abscond
qián fúto hide
qián shuǐ yuándiver
qián néngpotential
qián shuǐ tǐnga submarine
qián tái cíunspoken dialogue in a play, left for the audience to infer
qián cánghidden beneath the surface
qián shuǐ yīdiving suit
qián xīnto concentrate fully on sth
72
Total compounds
68
As first character
7
As last character
25
As middle character

appears in 72 compound words: 68 as the first character, 7 as the last, and 25 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.

tǐng
0.76372,156 co-occurrences
0.4976,510 co-occurrences
sōu
0.4525,226 co-occurrences
0.447936 co-occurrences
shuǐ
0.43724,404 co-occurrences
liè
0.4181,404 co-occurrences
jiàn
0.4175,022 co-occurrences
tāng
0.4151,512 co-occurrences
0.4075,886 co-occurrences
0.39117,639 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (4)

qìbǎoqiántáoHSK 6+

to abscond

verb
qián shén mò jìHSK 6+

to devote oneself to a task in silence (idiom)

phrase
qiányímòhuàHSK 6+

to influence secretly, subtly; to change due to unnoticeable influence

phrase
wèi zuì qián táoHSK 7+

to flee to escape punishment; to abscond from justice

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

站在桥上望去,水缓缓向东流去。

zhàn zài qiáo shǎng wàng qù , qián shuǐ huǎn huǎn xiàng dōng liú qù .

Standing on the bridge, the river flows slowly eastward.

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

...(01910.HK)美国双重上市估值重估力遭忽略 评级“买入”

. . . ( 0 1 9 1 0 . H K ) měi guó shuāng chóng shàng shì gū zhí chóng gū qián lì zāo hū lüè píng jí mǎi rù

... (01910.HK) The valuation revaluation potential of the US dual listing is ignored, and the rating is "buy"

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

辉达进驻北士科!渣打看好高资产力 天母将设国际私人理财中心

huī dá jìn zhù běi shì kē ! zhā dǎ kàn hǎo gāo zī chǎn qián lì tiān mǔ jiāng shè guó jì sī rén lǐ cái zhōng xīn

Huida enters Beishike! Standard Chartered is optimistic about the potential of high assets Tianmu will set up an international private wealth management center

中時新聞網Feb 2026

【推进AUKUS计画】澳采购英舰核反应炉零组件

tuī jìn A U K U S jì huà ào cǎi gòu yīng qián jiàn hé fǎn yīng lú líng zǔ jiàn

【Promoting the AUKUS Project】Australia procures components for the nuclear reactor of British submarines

Am730Feb 2026

...C”画面爆回响 与李海铜“暖心闺密”获封力 CP

. . . C huà miàn bào huí xiǎng yǔ lǐ hǎi tóng nuǎn xīn guī mì huò fēng qián lì C P

... C" picture exploded with reverberation, and Li Haitong's "heart-warming girlfriend" was awarded potential CP

LtnFeb 2026

入国小偷拍女童如厕判7年2月 恶男二审刑...

qián rù guó xiǎo tōu pāi nǚ tóng rú cè pàn 7 nián 2 yuè è nán èr shěn xíng . . .

Infiltrated the elementary school to secretly photograph a girl going to the toilet and was sentenced to 7 years and 2 years, and the evil man was sentenced to the second trial...

Tatoeba

你曾试过用水肺水吗?

Nǐ céng shì guo yòng shuǐfèi qiánshuǐ ma?

Have you ever tried scuba diving?

Tatoeba

要解开谋杀背后藏之谜!

Yào jiěkāi móushā bèihòu qiáncáng zhī mí!

Solve the mystery lurking behind the murder!

Tatoeba

我认为,你已经完全具备了伏的资质。

Wǒ rènwéi, nǐ yǐjīng wánquán jùbèi le qiánfú de zīzhì.

I believe you already possess all the qualities needed to go undercover.

Tatoeba

进水里,然后又浮上水来换气。

Tā qiánjìn Shuǐlǐ, ránhòu yòu fúshàng shuǐ lái huànqì.

He dived into the water and came up for air.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced qián

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 潜 (qián) mean in Chinese?
潜 (qián) primarily means "hidden." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1111 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 潜 have?
潜 is written with 15 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 潜?
The radical associated with 潜 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 潜?
潜 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 替 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵替 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 潜?
Common words with 潜 include: 潜力 (qián lì, "potential"); 潜水 (qián shuǐ, "to dive"); 潜在 (qián zài, "hidden"); 潜艇 (qián tǐng, "a submarine"); 潜入 (qián rù, "to submerge"). There are over 72 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 潜 (qián)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qián: 千 (thousand), 迁 (to move), 牵 (to lead along), 铅 (lead), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 潜 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 潜 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.