(quán): fist, boxing

(quán) is a Chinese character meaning “fist.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #1767 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, hand. Its radical form (hand) appears in many related characters such as (shǒu, hand), (, hit, make), (zhǎo, to look for).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. fist
  2. boxing

Etymology & Origin

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿱龹手 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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
quán jīboxing
quán toufist
quán wángboxing champion
quán jī shǒuboxer
quán shǒuboxer
tái quán dàotaekwondo (Korean martial art)
dǎ quánto do shadowboxing
quán jiǎoChinese boxing
chì shǒu kōng quán(idiom) with one's bare hands (unarmed – also figuratively: without assistance)
tiě quániron fist
quán tàoboxing glove
quán fǎboxing
cāi quánfinger-guessing game
quán dǎ jiǎo tīlit. to punch and kick (idiom)
mó quán cā zhǎngfig. to rub one's fists and wipe one's palms (idiom)
78
Total compounds
27
As first character
63
As last character
10
As middle character

appears in 78 compound words: 27 as the first character, 63 as the last, and 10 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.

0.52525,581 co-occurrences
cāi
0.5194,566 co-occurrences
0.4873,384 co-occurrences
zòu
0.485492 co-occurrences
0.432546 co-occurrences
shǒu
0.40720,400 co-occurrences
0.4064,386 co-occurrences
tào
0.4013,732 co-occurrences
dǎo
0.4003,768 co-occurrences
0.3981,866 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (9)

bǎoyǐlǎoquánHSK 7+

to beat someone up with fists

phrase
chìshǒukōngquánHSK 7+

bare-handed and unarmed; without any reliance; without anything to rely on

phrase
huāquánxiùtuǐHSK 7+

highly embellished and ineffectual; fancy but impractical skills; all show and no go; pugilistic

phrase
móquáncāzhǎngHSK 7+

to rub one's fists and wipe one's palms; to roll up one's sleeves for a battle

phrase
mó quán cā zhǎngHSK 7+

variant of 摩拳擦掌[mo1 quan2 ca1 zhang3]

phrase
qíng quán hé zhǎngHSK 7+

to clasp hands; to put one's palms together (in obeisance)

phrase
quándǎjiǎotīHSK 7+

to punch and kick; to brutally assault

phrase
quántou chǎnpǐnHSK 7+

core product (of a company)

noun
luō bì xuān quánHSK 7+

lit. to push up one's sleeves and bare one's fists; to be eager to get started

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

出你的证件,配合我们的工作。

qǐng quán chū nǐ de zhèng jiàn , pèi gě wǒ men de gōng zuò .

Please present your identification and cooperate with our investigation.

LtnMar 2026

中职》6队球星女孩“碰会”甜美登场 3/20下午1点限量开卖

zhōng zhí 6 duì qiú xīng nǚ hái pèng quán huì tián měi dēng chǎng 3 2 0 xià wǔ 1 diǎn xiàn liàng kāi mài

"Vocational School" Features 6 Star Girls in a Sweet "Fist Bump" Segment; Limited-Edition Tickets Go On Sale March 20 at 1:00 PM

99 健康网Mar 2026

老年人子宫下垂的治疗?太极增强核心肌群有帮助吗

lǎo nián rén zǐ gōng xià chuí de zhì liáo ? tài jí quán zēng qiáng hé xīn jī qún yǒu bāng zhù ma

Treatment of uterine ptosis in the elderly? Does tai chi help strengthen the core muscles?

Hk01.comFeb 2026

霸》Tony Jaa传患癌后近况曝光 化...

quán bà T o n y J a a chuán huàn ái hòu jìn kuàng pù guāng huà . . .

"Boxing Overlord" Tony Jaa's recent situation after being rumored to be suffering from cancer was exposed...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...男清晨醉返家未带磁扣 与大楼管理员口角挥相向遭警逮捕

. . . nán qīng chén zuì fǎn jiā wèi dài cí kòu yǔ dà lóu guǎn lǐ yuán kǒu jiǎo huī quán xiāng xiàng zāo jǐng dǎi bǔ

... The man returned home drunk in the early morning without a magnetic buckle and was arrested by the police for a verbal altercation with the building administrator and fist fighting

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...梨14岁被TVB高层借醉非礼 幸黄树棠出相救:佢话𡃁妹你都搞

. . . lí 1 4 suì bèi T V B gāo céng jiè zuì fēi lǐ xìng huáng shù 棠 chū quán xiāng jiù : 佢 huà mèi nǐ dōu gǎo

... Li was drunk and indecent at the age of 14 by TVB executives, but fortunately, Huang Shutang punched to save him: He said that you can do it too

Tatoeba

空手赤抓野兔并不容易。

Kōngshǒu chì quán zhuā yětù bìngbù róngyì.

It is not easy to catch a hare with your bare hands.

Tatoeba

我很喜欢北斗之

Wǒ hěn xǐhuan Běidǒu zhī quán!

I love Fist of the North Star!

Tatoeba

汤姆握紧了他的头。

Tāngmǔ wò jǐn le tā de quántou.

Tom clenched his fists.

Tatoeba

就是出。出脚就是出脚。

Chū quán jiùshì chū quán. chū jiǎo jiùshì chū jiǎo.

A punch is just a punch. A kick is just a kick.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced quán

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 拳 (quán) mean in Chinese?
拳 (quán) primarily means "fist." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1767 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 拳 have?
拳 is written with 9 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 拳?
The radical associated with 拳 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.
What are the components of 拳?
拳 is composed of: 龹 (phonetic), 手 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱龹手 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 拳?
Common words with 拳 include: 拳击 (quán jī, "boxing"); 拳头 (quán tou, "fist"); 拳王 (quán wáng, "boxing champion"); 拳击手 (quán jī shǒu, "boxer"); 拳手 (quán shǒu, "boxer"). There are over 78 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 拳 (quán)?
Several characters share the pronunciation quán: 券 (bond (esp. document split in two, with each party holding one half)), 全 (all), 权 (authority), 泉 (spring (small stream)), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 拳 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 拳 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.