(wān): bay, gulf, to cast anchor

(wān) is a Chinese character meaning “bay.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #855 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, water. Its radical form (water) appears in many related characters such as (shuǐ, water), (hàn, Han ethnic group), (, steam).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. bay
  2. gulf
  3. to cast anchor

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵弯 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
hǎi wānbay
tái wānvariant of 臺灣|台湾[Tai2 wan1]
gǎng wānbay serving as a harbor
西mò xī gē wānGulf of Mexico
guān tǎ nà mó wānGuantanamo Bay (in Cuba)
dōng jīng wānTokyo Bay
mèng jiā lā wānBay of Bengal
běi bù wānGulf of Tonkin
lóng wānLongwan district of Wenzhou city 溫州市|温州市[Wen1 zhou1 shi4], Zhejiang
guó wù yuàn tái wān shì wù bàn gōng shìTaiwan Affairs Office
hǎi wān guó jiānations of the Persian Gulf
tái wān guān xì fǎTaiwan Relations Act (of US Congress, 1979)
bǐ sī kāi wānBay of Biscay
tái wān dà xuéNational Taiwan University
tái wān mín zhǔ zì zhì tóng méngTaiwan Democratic Self-Government League
90
Total compounds
8
As first character
43
As last character
49
As middle character

appears in 90 compound words: 8 as the first character, 43 as the last, and 49 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.

tái
0.607174,062 co-occurrences
xiá
0.5074,998 co-occurrences
0.42636,696 co-occurrences
0.4144,752 co-occurrences
hǎi
0.41134,428 co-occurrences
jiāo
0.3881,506 co-occurrences
jīng
0.384492 co-occurrences
cūn
0.38416,590 co-occurrences
gǎng
0.38317,022 co-occurrences
zhèn
0.38111,304 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

BǐsīkāiwānHSK 7+

Bay of Biscay (a gulf)

hǎi wān guó jiāHSK 7+

nations of the Persian Gulf; Gulf states

phrase
Hǎiwān ZhànzhēngHSK 7+

Gulf War

Mèngjiālā WānHSK 7+

Bay of Bengal

西Mòxīgē WānHSK 7+

Gulf of Mexico

qī wān bā guǎiHSK 7+

variant of 七彎八拐|七弯八拐[qi1 wan1 ba1 guai3]

phrase
Táiwān HǎixiáHSK 7+

Taiwan Strait

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

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.

News For ChineseFeb 2026

“民歌50”唱进区,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

WorldjournalFeb 2026

汪小菲过年带子逛饶河夜市 脱口“台”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"

東方日報Feb 2026

冰鉴春秋:还有人看不到台

bīng jiàn chūn qiū : hái yǒu rén kàn bù dào tái wān ma

Bing Jian Chunqiu: Is there anyone who can't see Taiwan?

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春走基层|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

百度新闻Feb 2026

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...

Tatoeba

你在台品尝过火锅吗 ?

Nǐ zài Táiwān pǐncháng guòhuǒ guō ma?

Have you tried the hot pot in Taiwan?

Tatoeba

的货币是什么 ?

Táiwān de huòbì shì shénme?

What is the currency of Taiwan?

Tatoeba

从骏河看, 富士山很美丽。

Cóng Jùnhé Wān kàn, Fùshì Shān hěn měilì.

Mt. Fuji as seen from Suruga Bay is beautiful.

Tatoeba

菜比印度菜口味淡。

Táiwān cài bǐ Yìndù cài kǒuwèi dàn.

Taiwanese food is milder than Indian food.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced wān

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 湾 (wān) mean in Chinese?
湾 (wān) primarily means "bay." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #855 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 湾 have?
湾 is written with 12 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 湾?
The radical associated with 湾 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 湾?
湾 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 弯 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵弯 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 湾?
Common words with 湾 include: 海湾 (hǎi wān, "bay"); 台湾 (tái wān, "variant of 臺灣|台湾[Tai2 wan1]"); 港湾 (gǎng wān, "bay serving as a harbor"); 墨西哥湾 (mò xī gē wān, "Gulf of Mexico"); 关塔那摩湾 (guān tǎ nà mó wān, "Guantanamo Bay (in Cuba)"). There are over 90 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 湾 (wān)?
Several characters share the pronunciation wān: 弯 (to bend), 丸 (ball), 完 (to finish), 玩 (to play), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 湾 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 湾 and the traditional form is 灣.

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.