挽 (wǎn): to pull, to draw (a cart or a bow), to roll up

挽 (wǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “to pull.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 扌 (semantic) and 免 (phonetic). It ranks #2170 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

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

Native pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 扌 hand10 strokesFrequency #2170扌 semantic 免 phonetic

Definitions

to pull
to draw (a cart or a bow)
to roll up

Etymology & Origin

挽

pictophonetichand

Decomposition: ⿰扌免 (layout: left-right)

Components:扌semantic 免phonetic

Stroke Order

Practice writing 挽 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
挽救	wǎn jiù	to save
挽回	wǎn huí	to retrieve
挽留	wǎn liú	to urge to stay
力挽狂澜	lì wǎn kuáng lán	to pull strongly against a crazy tide (idiom)
无可挽回	wú kě wǎn huí	irrevocable
挽具	wǎn jù	harness
挽歌	wǎn gē	a dirge
不可挽回	bù kě wǎn huí	irreversible
挽力	wǎn lì	pulling power (of draft animals)
挽近	wǎn jìn	old variant of 晚近[wan3 jin4]
挽联	wǎn lián	pair of parallel verses inscribed on streamers, used as funeral decoration
推挽	tuī wǎn	to push and pull
挽词	wǎn cí	an elegy
挽额	wǎn é	elegiac tablet
挽尊	wǎn zūn	(neologism) (slang) to salvage a bit of dignity (abbr. for 挽回尊嚴\|挽回尊严[wan3 hui2 zun1 yan2])

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

挽 appears in 18 compound words: 78 as the first character, 6 as the last, and 17 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 挽 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

救jiù

0.61016,914 co-occurrences

回huí

0.49013,737 co-occurrences

澜lán

0.483528 co-occurrences

颓tuí

0.482168 co-occurrences

留liú

0.4806,864 co-occurrences

狂kuáng

0.4491,494 co-occurrences

劣liè

0.373312 co-occurrences

辕yuán

0.36748 co-occurrences

弓gōng

0.358288 co-occurrences

凄qī

0.34930 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

力挽狂澜lìwǎnkuánglánHSK 7+

to try hard to save a desperate crisis; to do one's utmost to save a desperate situation

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

他挽了一个电话，约朋友晚上一起吃饭。

tā wǎn le yī gě diàn huà , yāo péng yǒu wǎn shǎng yī qǐ chī fàn .

He made a phone call to invite his friends out for dinner that evening.

Orientaldaily MyMar 2026

挽救出生率中国2025起育儿补贴524亿

wǎn jiù chū shēng lǜ zhōng guó 2 0 2 5 qǐ yù ér bǔ tiē 5 2 4 yì

ZaobaoMar 2026

柬埔寨打击网诈挽回中国游客信心

jiǎn bù zhài dǎ jī wǎng zhà wǎn huí zhōng guó yóu kè xìn xīn

東方日報Mar 2026

东方日报C1:赵薇潜入戏院吸客难挽票房颓势

dōng fāng rì bào C 1 : zhào 薇 qián rù xì yuàn xī kè nán wǎn piào fáng tuí shì

Nownews今日新聞Mar 2026

挽袖捐血纾解血荒!台湾中油公司石化事业部举...

wǎn xiù juān xiě 纾 jiě xiě huāng ! tái wān zhōng yóu gōng sī shí huà shì yè bù jǔ . . .

Roll up your sleeves and donate blood to help ease the blood shortage! CPC Corporation, Taiwan's Petrochemical Division is organizing...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...能拿回人生主控权...水瓶果断离开、他力挽狂澜

. . . néng ná huí rén shēng zhǔ kòng quán . . . shuǐ píng guǒ duàn lí kāi , tā lì wǎn kuáng lán

... Can regain control of life... Aquarius decisively left, and he turned the tide

Tatoeba

我看见他们胳膊挽着胳膊地走路。

Wǒ kànjiàn tāmen gēbo wǎn zhe gēbo de zǒulù.

I saw them walking arm in arm.

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 挽 (wǎn) mean in Chinese?

挽 (wǎn) primarily means "to pull." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2170 in character frequency.

What's the difference between 挽 and 推?

挽 (wǎn) and 推 (tuī) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 挽 (pull) vs 推 (push).

How many strokes does 挽 have?

挽 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 挽?

The radical associated with 挽 is 扌 (hand). This radical appears in many characters related to hand.

What are the components of 挽?

挽 is composed of: 扌 (semantic), 免 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰扌免 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 挽?

Common words with 挽 include: 挽救 (wǎn jiù, "to save"); 挽回 (wǎn huí, "to retrieve"); 挽留 (wǎn liú, "to urge to stay"); 力挽狂澜 (lì wǎn kuáng lán, "to pull strongly against a crazy tide (idiom)"); 无可挽回 (wú kě wǎn huí, "irrevocable"). There are over 18 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 挽 (wǎn)?

Several characters share the pronunciation wǎn: 弯 (to bend), 湾 (bay), 丸 (ball), 完 (to finish), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 挽 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 挽 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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