(quán): spring (small stream), mouth of a spring, coin (archaic)

(quán) is a Chinese character meaning “spring (small stream).” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1630 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water 水 flowing from a spring 白. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. spring (small stream)
  2. mouth of a spring
  3. coin (archaic)

Etymology & Origin

ideographicWater 水 flowing from a spring 白

Decomposition: ⿱白水 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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
nounkuàng quán shuǐmineral water3

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
wēn quánhot spring
pēn quánfountain
yuán quánfountainhead
quán shuǐspring water
huáng quánthe Yellow Springs
xiǎo quánKoizumi (name)
kuàng quánmineral spring
quán yuánspringhead
quán yǒngto gush
qīng quánclear spring
quán yǎnmouth of a spring or fountain
gān quánGanquan county in Yan'an 延安[Yan2 an1], Shaanxi
yǒng quángushing spring
shí quánShiquan County in Ankang 安康[An1 kang1], Shaanxi
jiǔ quánthe nine springs
79
Total compounds
18
As first character
47
As last character
35
As middle character

appears in 79 compound words: 18 as the first character, 47 as the last, and 35 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.

pēn
0.56013,122 co-occurrences
wēn
0.53526,205 co-occurrences
zhōu
0.48061,374 co-occurrences
lóng
0.44716,068 co-occurrences
chōng
0.4373,384 co-occurrences
0.430732 co-occurrences
xiāo
0.42910 co-occurrences
gān
0.4257,410 co-occurrences
xià
0.4213,570 co-occurrences
jiǔ
0.41512,258 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

Àilìsī QuánHSK 7+

Alice Springs (a town in the Northern Territory, Australia)

mìng fù huáng quánHSK 7+

to visit the Yellow Springs; to die

phrase
quán shí gāo huāngHSK 5+

lit. mountain springs and rocks in one's heart (idiom); a deep love of mountain scenery

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

山间的水清澈甘甜,可以直接饮用。

Shānjiān de quánshuǐ qīngchè gāntián, kěyǐ zhíjiē yǐnyòng.

The spring water in the mountains is clear and sweet and can be drunk directly.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

州小木偶,撬动观演大市场

quán zhōu xiǎo mù ǒu , qiào dòng guàn yǎn dà shì chǎng

Quanzhou puppets leverage the big market for performances

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...石野溪泡汤突不适警消抢救 警吁前往野溪温应结伴同行

. . . shí yě xī pāo tāng tū bù shì jǐng xiāo qiǎng jiù jǐng xū qián wǎng yě xī wēn quán yīng jié bàn tóng háng

... Shiyexi soaked in hot springs, suddenly uncomfortable, police and rescue Warning to go to Yexi Hot Springs should be accompanied by companions

Yahoo FinanceFeb 2026

...HK)百胜中国(09987.HK)农夫山(09633.HK)等

. . . H K ) bǎi shèng zhōng guó ( 0 9 9 8 7 . H K ) nóng fū shān quán ( 0 9 6 3 3 . H K ) děng

... HK), Yum China (09987.HK), Nongfu Spring (09633.HK), etc

Nownews今日新聞Feb 2026

距離台灣僅110公里!小進次郎:2030年在與那國島部署防空飛彈

jù 離 tái 灣 僅 gōng lǐ ! xiǎo quán 進 cì láng nián zài 與 nà 國 島 bù shǔ fáng kōng 飛 彈

[Translation pending - quota exceeded]

百度新闻Feb 2026

”在济南过大年丨烟火年味浓!济南芙蓉街客...

quán zài jì nán guò dà nián 丨 yān huǒ nián wèi nóng ! jì nán 芙 蓉 jiē kè . . .

Celebrating the Lunar New Year in Jinan's "Fountain City" The festive atmosphere is thick with the flavors of home! Jinan's Furong Street is bustling with visitors...

Tatoeba

她目睹爱犬在意外中离世,不禁泪如涌。

Tā mùdǔ àiquǎn zàiyì wài zhōng líshì, bù jìn lèi rú quányǒng.

She shed plentiful tears when her beloved dog was killed in an accident.

Tatoeba

我喜欢喝天然的矿水。

Wǒ xǐhuan hē tiānrán de kuàngquánshuǐ.

I like to drink natural mineral water.

Tatoeba

两夫妇应该閒时去浸温,过过二人世界。

Liǎng fūfù yīnggāi xiánshí qù jìn wēnquán, guòguo èrrén shìjiè.

Sometimes it's good for a married couple to go to a hot spring together—just the two of them.

Tatoeba

水是生命的源

Shuǐ shì shēngmìng de yuánquán.

Life cannot exist without water.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced quán

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 泉 (quán) mean in Chinese?
泉 (quán) primarily means "spring (small stream)." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1630 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 泉 have?
泉 is written with 8 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 泉?
The radical associated with 泉 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 泉?
泉 is composed of: 白 (structural), 水 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱白水 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 泉?
Common words with 泉 include: 温泉 (wēn quán, "hot spring"); 喷泉 (pēn quán, "fountain"); 源泉 (yuán quán, "fountainhead"); 矿泉水 (kuàng quán shuǐ, "mineral water"); 泉水 (quán shuǐ, "spring water"). There are over 79 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 泉 (quán)?
Several characters share the pronunciation quán: 全 (all), 权 (authority), 拳 (fist), 犬 ((literary) dog), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 泉 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 泉 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.