湾 (wān): bay, gulf, to cast anchor
湾 (wān) is a Chinese character meaning “bay.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 弯 (phonetic). It ranks #855 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 湾 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 水 (shuǐ, water), 汉 (hàn, Han ethnic group), 汽 (qì, steam).
Definitions
- bay
- gulf
- to cast anchor
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 湾 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 海湾noun | hǎi wān | bay |
| 台湾proper-noun | tái wān | variant of 臺灣|台湾 |
| 港湾noun | gǎng wān | bay serving as a harbor |
| 墨西哥湾proper-noun | mò xī gē wān | Gulf of Mexico |
| 关塔那摩湾 | guān tǎ nà mó wān | Guantanamo Bay (in Cuba) |
| 东京湾proper-noun | dōng jīng wān | Tokyo Bay |
| 孟加拉湾proper-noun | mèng jiā lā wān | Bay of Bengal |
| 北部湾proper-noun | běi bù wān | Gulf of Tonkin |
| 龙湾proper-noun | lóng wān | see 龍灣區|龙湾区 |
| 国务院台湾事务办公室 | guó wù yuàn tái wān shì wù bàn gōng shì | Taiwan Affairs Office |
| 海湾国家 | hǎi wān guó jiā | nations of the Persian Gulf |
| 台湾关系法 | tái wān guān xì fǎ | Taiwan Relations Act (of US Congress, 1979) |
| 比斯开湾proper-noun | bǐ sī kāi wān | Bay of Biscay |
| 台湾大学 | tái wān dà xué | National Taiwan University |
| 台湾民主自治同盟 | tái wān mín zhǔ zì zhì tóng méng | Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League |
湾 appears in 86 compound words: 5 as the first character, 44 as the last, and 51 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 湾 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (7)
Example Sentences
海湾的风景很美，吸引了很多游客前来观光。
Hǎiwān de fēngjǐng hěn měi, xīyǐn le hěn duō yóukè qiánlái guānguāng.
The scenery of the bay is very beautiful, attracting many tourists to visit.
“民歌50”唱进湾区,共赴岁月的约定
mín gē 5 0 chàng jìn wān qū , gòng fù suì yuè de yuē dìng
"Folk Song 50" sung into the Bay Area and went to the agreement of the years
汪小菲过年带子逛饶河夜市 脱口“台湾”赶紧加“中国”
wāng xiǎo 菲 guò nián dài zǐ guàng ráo hé yè shì tuō kǒu tái wān gǎn jǐn jiā zhōng guó
Wang Xiaofei took her children to visit Raohe Night Market during the New Year and blurted out "Taiwan" and quickly added "China"
冰鉴春秋:还有人看不到台湾吗
bīng jiàn chūn qiū : hái yǒu rén kàn bù dào tái wān ma
Bing Jian Chunqiu: Is there anyone who can't see Taiwan?
新春走基层|湾区“动脉”守夜人的别样新春
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng wān ōu dòng mài shǒu yè rén de bié yàng xīn chūn
New Year's Eve | Bay Area "arteries" night watchman of a different kind of New Year's Eve
大湾区航空飞往台北航班遇大雾盘旋后折返,航司...
dà wān ōu háng kōng fēi wǎng tái běi háng bān yù dà wù pán xuán hòu shé fǎn , háng sī . . .
Air Taiwan flight to Taipei turns back after circling in heavy fog, the airline...
你在台湾品尝过火锅吗 ?
Nǐ zài Táiwān pǐncháng guòhuǒ guō ma?
Have you tried the hot pot in Taiwan?
台湾的货币是什么 ?
Táiwān de huòbì shì shénme?
What is the currency of Taiwan?
从骏河湾看, 富士山很美丽。
Cóng Jùnhé Wān kàn, Fùshì Shān hěn měilì.
Mt. Fuji as seen from Suruga Bay is beautiful.
台湾菜比印度菜口味淡。
Táiwān cài bǐ Yìndù cài kǒuwèi dàn.
Taiwanese food is milder than Indian food.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 湾 (wān) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 湾 have?
What is the radical of 湾?
What are the components of 湾?
What are common words containing 湾?
What characters sound the same as 湾 (wān)?
Is 湾 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 湾 with real-time feedback
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