钳 (qián): pincers, pliers, tongs

钳 (qián) is a Chinese character meaning “pincers.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 钅 (semantic) and 甘 (phonetic). It ranks #2881 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 钳 metal. Its radical form 钅 (metal) appears in many related characters such as 钱 (qián, money), 错 (cuò, wrong, mistake), 钟 (zhōng, clock, bell).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 钅 metal10 strokesFrequency #2881钅 semantic甘 phonetic

Definitions

  1. pincers
  2. pliers
  3. tongs

Etymology & Origin

钳

pictophoneticmetal

Decomposition: ⿰钅甘 (layout: left-right)

Components:钅semantic甘phonetic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
钳子qián zipliers
老虎钳lǎo hǔ qiánvise
钳制qián zhìto suppress
火钳huǒ qiánfire tongs
钳工qián gōngfitter
虎钳hǔ qiánvise
大力钳dà lì qiánlocking pliers
管子钳guǎn zi qiánpipe wrench
克丝钳子kè sī qián ziwire cutting pincers
断线钳duàn xiàn qiánbolt cutter
压线钳yā xiàn qiáncrimping pliers
指甲钳zhǐ jia qiánnail clipper
台虎钳tái hǔ qiánbench vise
管钳guǎn qiánpipe wrench
钳住qián zhùto clamp down
25
Total compounds
24
As first character
72
As last character
4
As middle character

钳 appears in 25 compound words: 24 as the first character, 72 as the last, and 4 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 钳 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

夹jiā
0.542408 co-occurrences
刹chà
0.502150 co-occurrences
虾xiā
0.500126 co-occurrences
嘴zuǐ
0.479354 co-occurrences
螃páng
0.47448 co-occurrences
蟹xiè
0.455144 co-occurrences
剥bāo
0.42990 co-occurrences
势shì
0.403270 co-occurrences
焊hàn
0.40142 co-occurrences
制zhì
0.3771,110 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

克丝钳子kè sī qián ziHSK 7+

wire cutting pincers

phrase
钳马衔枚qián mǎ xián méiHSK 7+

with horses and soldiers gagged (idiom); (of a marching army) in utter silence

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这把钳锁已经生锈了，打不开了。

zhè bǎ qián suǒ yǐ jīng shēng xiù le , dǎ bù kāi le .

This padlock has rusted shut and won't open.

Tatoeba

把钳子放在工具箱里。

Bǎ qiánzi fàng zài gōngjùxiāng lǐ.

Put the pliers in the tool box.

Character Family

钅 Radical Family — Characters sharing the metal radical

镑bàng铲chǎn钞chāo锤chuí锻duàn钝dùn锋fēng钙gài钢gāng锅guō

Related Characters

钱qián错cuò钟zhōng铁tiě银yín金jīn针zhēn销xiāo锻duàn镜jìng

Homophones — Characters pronounced qián

千qiān迁qiān牵qiān铅qiān谦qiān签qiān前qián钱qián浅qiǎn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 钳 (qián) mean in Chinese?
钳 (qián) primarily means "pincers." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2881 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 钳 and 酣?
钳 (qián) and 酣 (hān) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 钅 vs 酉 (same 甘 component).
How many strokes does 钳 have?
钳 is written with 10 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 钳?
The radical associated with 钳 is 钅 (metal). This radical appears in many characters related to metal.
What are the components of 钳?
钳 is composed of: 钅 (semantic), 甘 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰钅甘 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 钳?
Common words with 钳 include: 钳子 (qián zi, "pliers"); 老虎钳 (lǎo hǔ qián, "vise"); 钳制 (qián zhì, "to suppress"); 火钳 (huǒ qián, "fire tongs"); 钳工 (qián gōng, "fitter"). There are over 25 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 钳 (qián)?
Several characters share the pronunciation qián: 千 (thousand), 迁 (to move), 牵 (to lead along), 铅 (lead), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 钳 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 钳 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 钳 with real-time feedback

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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.