顽 (wán): mischievous, obstinate, to play

顽 (wán) is a Chinese character meaning “mischievous.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 元 (phonetic) and 页 (semantic). It ranks #1995 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 顽 head. Its radical form 页 (page) appears in many related characters such as 页 (yè, page), 顺 (shùn, to obey), 须 (xū, must).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. mischievous
  2. obstinate
  3. to play

Etymology & Origin

顽

pictophonetichead

Decomposition: ⿰元页 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 顽

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
顽强adjectivewán qiángtenacious6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
顽固adjectivewán gùstubborn
顽皮adjectivewán pínaughty
老顽固lǎo wán gù(derog.) old-fashioned and stubborn person
顽童nounwán tóngurchin
负隅顽抗phrasefù yú wán kàng(idiom) to put up fierce resistance despite being surrounded
冥顽adjectivemíng wánstupidly obstinate
冥顽不灵phrasemíng wán bù líng(idiom) pigheaded
顽疾nounwán jístubborn illness
死顽固adjectivesǐ wán gùvery stubborn
顽症nounwán zhèngsee 頑疾|顽疾
顽民wán mínunruly people
思想顽钝sī xiǎng wán dùnblunt thinking
凶顽xiōng wánfierce and uncontrollable
愚顽adjectiveyú wánignorant and stubborn
顽劣adjectivewán lièstubborn and obstreperous
19
Total compounds
58
As first character
16
As last character
26
As middle character

顽 appears in 19 compound words: 58 as the first character, 16 as the last, and 26 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 顽 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

固gù
0.5181,307 co-occurrences
抵dǐ
0.501772 co-occurrences
强qiáng
0.4952,160 co-occurrences
抗kàng
0.4931,068 co-occurrences
皮pí
0.438478 co-occurrences
矫jiǎo
0.43022 co-occurrences
劣liè
0.40982 co-occurrences
钝dùn
0.40818 co-occurrences
狗gǒu
0.406126 co-occurrences
坚jiān
0.397116 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

冥顽不灵míngwánbùlíng

obstinate and ignorant; stubborn and benighted

phrase
负隅顽抗fùyúwánkàngHSK 6+

to make a last-ditch fight (relying on a strategically inaccessible place or other conditions)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

顽字在日常生活中使用频率较低。

wán zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .

The character "顽" is not frequently used in everyday life.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

他们乐观、顽强、善于在苦难中开出喜乐之花,恰是四川人精神的缩影。

tā men lè guàn , wán qiáng , shàn yú zài kǔ nán zhōng kāi chū xǐ lè zhī huā , qià shì sì chuān rén jīng shén de suō yǐng .

They are optimistic, resilient, and adept at finding joy even in the midst of hardship—a true embodiment of the Sichuan spirit.

少数派Aug 2026

但冷水的效果对顽固油污的效果还是不好,所以就有了蒸汽洗这个升级方案。

dàn lěng shuǐ de xiào guǒ duì wán gù yóu wū de xiào guǒ hái shì bù hǎo , suǒ yǐ jiù yǒu le zhēng qì xǐ zhè gè shēng jí fāng àn .

However, cold water isn't very effective against stubborn grease stains, which is why steam cleaning was developed as an upgraded solution.

Orientaldaily MyApr 2026

网传2顽童虐待猫咪犯众怒 登兽医局收到500多起...

wǎng chuán 2 wán tóng nüè dài māo 咪 fàn zhòng nù dēng shòu yī jú shōu dào 5 0 0 duō qǐ . . .

Online reports of two children abusing a cat have sparked public outrage; the Veterinary Bureau has received over 500 complaints...

SmzdmMar 2026

...if v2.43 解决 GIF 无限循环顽疾

. . . i f v 2 . 4 3 jiě jué G I F wú xiàn xún huán wán jí

...if v2.43 fixes the persistent issue of GIFs looping endlessly

The Portugal NewsMar 2026

葡萄牙旅游业显示出顽强的生命力

pú táo yá lǚ yóu yè xiǎn shì chū wán qiáng de shēng mìng lì

Portugal's tourism industry has shown remarkable resilience

Tatoeba

他年纪越大变得越顽固。

Tā niánjì yuè dàbiàn de yuè wángù.

He became more obstinate as he grew older.

Tatoeba

尽管受到暴君的迫害,英雄还顽强地斗争。

Jǐnguǎn shòudào bàojūn de pòhài, yīngxióng hái wánqiáng de dòuzhēng.

In spite of the tyrant’s persecution, the hero valiantly carried on the struggle.

Tatoeba

顽皮的小男孩爱他的爸爸。

Wánpí de xiǎo nánhái ài tā de bàba.

The mischievous son loved his dad.

Tatoeba

烤箱内如有液体洒出,应立即清理,以免留下顽固污渍。

Kǎoxiāng nèi rú yǒu yètǐ sǎ chū, yīng lìjí qīnglǐ, yǐmiǎn liúxià wángù wūzì.

Clean up spills inside the oven as soon as they happen to avoid stubborn stains.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 页 (head) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced wán

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 顽 (wán) mean in Chinese?
顽 (wán) primarily means "mischievous." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1995 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 顽 and 远?
顽 (wán) and 远 (yuǎn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 页 vs 辶 (same 元 component).
How many strokes does 顽 have?
顽 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 顽?
The radical associated with 顽 is 页 (page). This radical appears in many characters related to page.
What are the components of 顽?
顽 is composed of: 元 (phonetic), 页 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰元页 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 顽?
Common words with 顽 include: 顽固 (wán gù, "stubborn"); 顽强 (wán qiáng, "tenacious"); 顽皮 (wán pí, "naughty"); 老顽固 (lǎo wán gù, "(derog.) old-fashioned and stubborn person"); 顽童 (wán tóng, "urchin"). There are over 19 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 顽 (wán)?
Several characters share the pronunciation wán: 完 (to finish), 玩 (to play), 晚 (late, evening), 湾 (bay), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 顽 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 顽 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 顽 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.