宛 (wǎn): surname Wan, winding, as if

宛 (wǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “winding.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 宀 (semantic) and 夗 (phonetic). It ranks #3253 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 宛 roof. Its radical form 宀 (roof) appears in many related characters such as 家 (jiā, home, family), 室 (shì, room), 客 (kè, guest, customer).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. surname Wan
  2. winding
  3. as if

Etymology & Origin

宛

pictophoneticroof

Decomposition: ⿱宀夗 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
立陶宛proper-nounlì táo wǎnLithuania
宛如verbwǎn rúto be just like
立陶宛人nounlì táo wǎn rénLithuanian (person)
宛若verbwǎn ruòto be just like
宛城区wǎn chéng qūWancheng, a district of Nanyang City 南陽市|南阳市, Henan
大宛dà yuānancient state of central Asia
宛然wǎn ránas if
宛转adjectivewǎn zhuǎnsinuous
宛城wǎn chéngsee 宛城區|宛城区
委宛wěi wǎnvariant of 委婉
10
Total compounds
60
As first character
30
As last character
10
As middle character

宛 appears in 10 compound words: 60 as the first character, 30 as the last, and 10 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

陈宛婷 摄 运河古建,是千年运河留给山东的宝贵遗产,也是新时代文化传承的重要载体。

chén wǎn tíng shè yùn hé gǔ jiàn , shì qiān nián yùn hé liú gěi shān dōng de bǎo guì yí chǎn , yě shì xīn shí dài wén huà chuán chéng de chóng yào zài tǐ .

Photo by Chen Wanting. The ancient canal architecture is a precious legacy left to Shandong by the millennia-old canal, and it also serves as an important vehicle for cultural preservation in the new era.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

文化节期间,宛平城全域将化身沉浸式文化体验空间。

wén huà jié qī jiān , wǎn píng chéng quán yù jiāng huà shēn chén jìn shì wén huà tǐ yàn kōng jiān .

During the cultural festival, the entire Wanping City area will be transformed into an immersive cultural experience space.

IT之家Sep 2026

立陶宛率先加入,随后爱沙尼亚批准 FSD 在公共道路上运行。

lì táo wǎn lǜ xiān jiā rù , suí hòu ài shā ní yà pī zhǔn F S D zài gōng gòng dào lù shàng yùn xíng .

Lithuania was the first to join, and Estonia subsequently approved the operation of FSD on public roads.

中国新闻网·文化Sep 2026

配乐如暗涌漫过全场,6名舞者在宛若幽暗殿堂的舞台布景间翩跹腾挪。

pèi lè rú àn yǒng màn guò quán chǎng , 6 míng wǔ zhě zài wǎn ruò yōu àn diàn táng de wǔ tái bù jǐng jiān 翩 跹 téng nuó .

The music swept over the audience like a hidden current, and the six dancers glided and moved gracefully amid the stage set, which resembled a dimly lit hall.

奇客SolidotSep 2026

爱沙尼亚、格鲁吉亚、立陶宛、摩尔多瓦、塞尔维亚和乌克兰等六个国家投了弃权票。

ài shā ní yà , gé lǔ jí yà , lì táo wǎn , mó ěr duō wǎ , sāi ěr wéi yà hé wū kè lán děng liù gè guó jiā tóu le qì quán piào .

Six countries—Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine—abstained from voting.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 宀 (roof) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 宛 (wǎn) mean in Chinese?
宛 (wǎn) primarily means "winding." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3253 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 宛 and 怨?
宛 (wǎn) and 怨 (yuàn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 宀 vs 忄 (same 夗 component).
How many strokes does 宛 have?
宛 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 宛?
The radical associated with 宛 is 宀 (roof). This radical appears in many characters related to roof.
What are the components of 宛?
宛 is composed of: 宀 (semantic), 夗 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱宀夗 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 宛?
Common words with 宛 include: 立陶宛 (lì táo wǎn, "Lithuania"); 宛如 (wǎn rú, "to be just like"); 立陶宛人 (lì táo wǎn rén, "Lithuanian (person)"); 宛若 (wǎn ruò, "to be just like"); 宛城区 (wǎn chéng qū, "Wancheng, a district of Nanyang City 南陽市|南阳市, Henan"). There are over 10 compound words containing this character.
Is 宛 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 宛 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 宛 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.