腕 (wàn): wrist, (squid, starfish etc) arm
腕 (wàn) is a Chinese character meaning “wrist.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of ⺼ (semantic) and 宛 (phonetic). It ranks #2473 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 腕 flesh. Its radical form 肉 (meat) appears in many related characters such as 肉 (ròu, meat), 能 (néng, can), 背 (bèi, the back of a body or object).
Definitions
- wrist
- (squid, starfish etc) arm
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 腕 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 手腕 | shǒu wàn | wrist |
| 大腕 | dà wàn | (coll.) big shot |
| 铁腕 | tiě wàn | iron fist (of the state) |
| 腕子 | wàn zi | wrist |
| 掰腕子 | bāi wàn zi | arm wrestling |
| 扼腕 | è wàn | to wring one's hands (literally wring one's wrists) |
| 手腕子 | shǒu wàn zi | wrist |
| 腕足 | wàn zú | (zoology) tentacle |
| 外交手腕 | wài jiāo shǒu wàn | diplomatic skills |
| 腕足动物 | wàn zú dòng wù | brachiopod |
| 大腕儿 | dà wàn r | erhua variant of 大腕[da4 wan4] |
| 比腕力 | bǐ wàn lì | arm wrestling (Tw) |
| 手腕式 | shǒu wàn shì | wrist- (watch, compass) |
| 脚腕子 | jiǎo wàn zi | see 腳腕|脚腕[jiao3 wan4] |
| 玩手腕 | wán shǒu wàn | to play tricks |
腕 appears in 28 compound words: 32 as the first character, 46 as the last, and 21 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 腕 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
腕字在不同的语境中有不同的用法。
wàn zì zài bù tóng de yǔ jìng zhōng yǒu bù tóng de yòng fǎ .
The character "腕" has different usages in different contexts.
...、CITIZEN日系三巨头跨界出击 重塑腕间金属风新浪潮
. . . , C I T I Z E N rì xì sān jù tóu kuà jiè chū jī chóng sù wàn jiān jīn shǔ fēng xīn làng cháo
...是什么病早期有什么症状?手指活动不灵与伸腕困难
. . . shì shén má bìng zǎo qī yǒu shén má zhèng zhuàng ? shǒu zhǐ huó dòng bù líng yǔ shēn wàn kùn nán
长者骨折不只是意外 背后恐藏隐形推手 手腕、脊椎与髋部尤其要注意
cháng zhě gǔ zhé bù zhī shì yì wài bèi hòu kǒng zàng yǐn xíng tuī shǒu shǒu wàn , jǐ chuí yǔ 髋 bù yóu qí yāo zhù yì
Fractures in the elderly are not just accidents, there may be invisible pushers behind them, especially the wrists, spine and hips
这只腕表需要修理。
Zhè zhī wàn biǎo xūyào xiūlǐ.
This watch wants mending.
汤姆扭伤了手腕。
Tāngmǔ niǔshāng le shǒuwàn.
Tom sprained his wrist.
那个男人抓住了这个年轻女孩的手腕。
Nàge nánrén zhuāzhù le zhège niánqīng nǚhái de shǒuwàn.
That man grabbed the young girl's wrist.
我怀疑韩国人是练过腕力才用得好那种铁筷。
Wǒ huáiyí Hánguórén shì liàn guo wàn lì cái yòng de hǎo nàzhǒng tiě kuài.
I suspect Koreans must have trained their wrist strength to use those iron chopsticks so well.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 腕 (wàn) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 腕 have?
What is the radical of 腕?
What are the components of 腕?
What are common words containing 腕?
What characters sound the same as 腕 (wàn)?
Is 腕 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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