(qiàn): boatman's tow-rope, fine, delicate

(qiàn) is a Chinese character meaning “boatman's tow-rope.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2070 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, silk. Its radical form (silk) appears in many related characters such as (, to connect), (lěi, to accumulate), (shào, to continue).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. boatman's tow-rope
  2. fine
  3. delicate

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticsilk

Decomposition: ⿰纟千 (layout: left-right)

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
xiān wéifiber
xiān xìfine
guāng xiānoptical fiber
hé chéng xiān wéisynthetic fiber
xiān ruòfragile
xiān wéi sùcellulose
huà xiānman-made fiber (abbr. for 化學纖維|化学纤维[hua4 xue2 xian1 wei2])
qiàn fūburlak (barge hauler)
guāng dǎo xiān wéioptical fiber
xiān xiǎofine
jù zhǐ xiān wéipolyester fiber
guāng xiān fēn bù shì shù jù jiē kǒuFiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)
guāng xiān fēn bù shù jù jiē kǒuFiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)
guāng xiān fēn sàn shì zī liào jiè miàn(Tw) Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)
shén jīng yuán xiān wéi(anatomy) neurofibril
67
Total compounds
49
As first character
7
As last character
43
As middle character

appears in 67 compound words: 49 as the first character, 7 as the last, and 43 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.

wéi
0.67033,774 co-occurrences
0.5334,824 co-occurrences
tàn
0.4721,452 co-occurrences
cóng
0.466858 co-occurrences
0.4621,044 co-occurrences
lǎn
0.455318 co-occurrences
0.4511,134 co-occurrences
0.4441,068 co-occurrences
fǎng
0.442414 co-occurrences
rèn
0.439174 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (13)

bōli xiānwéiHSK 7+

fibreglass

noun
guāngdǎo xiānwéiHSK 7+

optical fibre

noun
guāng xiān diàn lǎnHSK 7+

optical fiber; optical cable

phrase
hé chéng xiān wéiHSK 7+

synthetic fiber

phrase
huàxué xiānwéiHSK 7+

synthetic fiber

noun
jīyuánxiānwéiHSK 7+

myofibril

noun
rén zào xiān wéiHSK 7+

man-made fiber

phrase
shénjīngxiānwéiHSK 7+

nerve fiber

noun
tiān rán xiān wéiHSK 7+

natural fiber

phrase
xiān chén bù rǎnHSK 7+

see 一塵不染|一尘不染[yi1 chen2 bu4 ran3]

phrase
xiān wéi dàn báiHSK 7+

fibrous protein

phrase
xiān xī wú yíHSK 7+

detailed and nothing left out (idiom); meticulous and comprehensive; not missing an iota

phrase

Showing 12 of 13 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

字在日常生活中使用频率较低。

qiàn zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .

The character "纤" is not frequently used in everyday life.

EttodayFeb 2026

...东原民部落与虎科大合力研发 在地月桃假茎维材料技术创新局

. . . dōng yuán mín bù luò yǔ hǔ kē dà gě lì yán fā zài dì yuè táo jiǎ jīng qiàn wéi cái liào jì shù chuàng xīn jú

... The East Aboriginal Tribe and the Tiger University of Science and Technology jointly developed the local Moon Peach False Stem Fiber Material Technology Innovation Bureau

99 健康网Feb 2026

老年人不能硬?长期不用会导致海绵体维化吗

lǎo nián rén bù néng yìng ? cháng qī bù yòng huì dǎo zhì hǎi mián tǐ qiàn wéi huà ma

Elderly people can't be hard? Will long-term use lead to fibrosis of the corpus cavernosum?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

布龙头日东纺飙涨15% 富乔、南亚等股价...

bō qiàn bù lóng tóu rì dōng fǎng biāo zhǎng 1 5 fù qiáo , nán yà děng gǔ jià . . .

Fiberglass cloth leader Nitto Bo soared 15% Fuqiao, Nanya and other stock prices...

Investing 香港Feb 2026

港股异动 | 长飞光光缆(06869)盘中涨超5%再创新高 ...

gǎng gǔ yì dòng cháng fēi guāng qiàn guāng lǎn ( 0 6 8 6 9 ) pán zhōng zhǎng chāo 5 zài chuàng xīn gāo . . .

Hong Kong stock changes | Changfei Optical Fiber Cable (06869) rose more than 5% intraday to hit a new high...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

陆玻布业 再掀涨价潮

lù bō qiàn bù yè zài xiān zhǎng jià cháo

The land glass fiber fabric industry has set off another wave of price increases

Tatoeba

挑选少油、少糖、少盐和高的食物。

Tiāoxuǎn shǎo yóu, shǎo táng, shǎo yán hé gāo xiān de shíwù.

Choose food low in fat, sugar and salt, and high in fibre.

Tatoeba

你要吃多点含膳食维的食物。

Nǐ yào chī duō diǎn hán shànshí xiānwéi de shíwù.

You need to eat more fiber.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced qiàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 纤 (qiàn) mean in Chinese?
纤 (qiàn) primarily means "boatman's tow-rope." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2070 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 纤 have?
纤 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 纤?
The radical associated with 纤 is 纟 (silk). This radical appears in many characters related to silk.
What are the components of 纤?
纤 is composed of: 纟 (semantic), 千 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰纟千 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 纤?
Common words with 纤 include: 纤维 (xiān wéi, "fiber"); 纤细 (xiān xì, "fine"); 光纤 (guāng xiān, "optical fiber"); 合成纤维 (hé chéng xiān wéi, "synthetic fiber"); 纤弱 (xiān ruò, "fragile"). There are over 67 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 纤 (qiàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qiàn: 迁 (to move), 千 (thousand), 牵 (to lead along), 铅 (lead), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 纤 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 纤 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.