县 (xiàn): county

县 (xiàn) is a Chinese character meaning “county.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 且 (structural) and 厶 (structural). It ranks #877 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. county

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
叶县yè xiànYe County or Yexian, a county in Pingdingshan City 平頂山市|平顶山市, Henan
县长nounxiàn zhǎngcounty's head commissioner
知县nounzhī xiàncounty head magistrate (old)
林县lín xiànLin county in Henan
县城xiàn chéngcounty seat
沙县proper-nounshā xiànsee 沙縣區|沙县区
和县proper-nounhé xiànHe County or Hexian, a county in Ma'anshan City 馬鞍山市|马鞍山市, Anhui
文县wén xiànWen County or Wenxian, a county in Longnan City 隴南市|陇南市, Gansu
县级nounxiàn jícounty level
南县proper-nounnán xiànNan County or Nanxian, a county in Yiyang City 益陽市|益阳市, Hunan
县府nounxiàn fǔcounty government
金门县jīn mén xiànKinmen County, Taiwan (the Kinmen or Quemoy islands off the Fujian coast)
道县proper-noundào xiànDao County or Daoxian, a county in Yongzhou City 永州市, Hunan
成县proper-nounchéng xiànCheng County or Chengxian, a county in Longnan City 隴南市|陇南市, Gansu
理县proper-nounlǐ xiànLi County or Lixian, a county in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture 阿壩藏族羌族自治州|阿坝藏族羌族自治州[A1 ba4 Zang4 zu2 Q...
101
Total compounds
4
As first character
96
As last character
0
As middle character

县 appears in 101 compound words: 4 as the first character, 96 as the last, and 0 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 县 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

莅lì
0.5462,324 co-occurrences
阳yáng
0.53432,106 co-occurrences
乡xiāng
0.50120,084 co-occurrences
宁níng
0.49117,184 co-occurrences
辖xiá
0.47614,782 co-occurrences
镇zhèn
0.47130,648 co-occurrences
诺nuò
0.47014,264 co-occurrences
城chéng
0.46852,046 co-occurrences
知zhī
0.46035,500 co-occurrences
莲lián
0.44914 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

县城是地方行政中心。

Xiàn chéng shì dìfāng xíngzhèng zhōngxīn.

The county town is the local administrative center.

中時新聞網Feb 2026

竹县爱讲“客”推学校客语能力 扩大奖励对象

zhú xiàn ài jiǎng kè tuī xué jiào kè yǔ néng lì kuò dà jiǎng lì duì xiàng

Zhu County loves to speak "guests" and promote the school's Hakka language ability to expand the reward objects

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

嘉义选情黄家班两样情 嘉市根基稳固、嘉县陷重整纷争

jiā yì xuǎn qíng huáng jiā bān liǎng yàng qíng jiā shì gēn jī wěn gù , jiā xiàn xiàn chóng zhěng fēn zhēng

Chiayi election situation Huang Jiaban two loves Jia City has a solid foundation, and Jia County is trapped in a reorganization dispute

百度新闻Feb 2026

千城百县看中国·护航春运丨河北交通:智慧高速守护...

qiān chéng bǎi xiàn kàn zhōng guó hù háng chūn yùn 丨 hé běi jiāo tōng : zhì huì gāo sù shǒu hù . . .

Thousands of cities and counties look at China and escort the Spring Festival丨Hebei transportation: smart high-speed protection...

百度新闻Feb 2026

超标近2000倍 日本石川县一处地下水检出高浓度有..

chāo biāo jìn bèi rì běn shí chuān xiàn yī chǔ dì xià shuǐ jiǎn chū gāo nóng dù yǒu . .

Groundwater in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, found to contain high concentrations of... Exceeding standards by nearly 2,000 times.

百度新闻Feb 2026

宁远县城管局:禁燃禁放不松懈 守护平安祥和年

nìng yuǎn xiàn chéng guǎn jú jīn rán jīn fàng bù sōng xiè shǒu hù píng ān xiáng hé nián

Ningyuan County Urban Management Bureau: Maintaining Vigilance in Fireworks and Fireworks Ban Safeguarding a Peaceful and Harmonious New Year

Tatoeba

我在兵库县立大学学习。

Wǒ zài Bīngkùxiàn lì dàxué xuéxí.

I study at the University of Hyogo.

Tatoeba

日本有多少个县?

Rìběn yǒu duōshao gè xiàn?

How many prefectures are there in Japan?

Tatoeba

我去年夏天到访的是一个位于长野县的小村落。

Wǒ qùnián xiàtiān dàofǎng de shì yī gèwèi yú Chángyěxiàn de xiǎo cūnluò.

The village which I visited last summer was a small one in Nagano Prefecture.

Tatoeba

其鄄城、东阿、范县三处,赖荀彧、程昱二人设计相连,死守城郭。

Qí Juànchéng, Dōng'ē, fàn xiàn sān chǔ, lài Xún Yù, Chéng Yù èr rénshè jì xiānglián, sǐshǒu chéngguō.

At Juancheng, Dong'e, and Fan counties, thanks to the strategic planning of Xun Yu and Cheng Yu, the locations were connected, and the cities were defended to the death.

Character Family

厶 Radical Family — Characters sharing the private radical

Related Characters

Homophones — Characters pronounced xiàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 县 (xiàn) mean in Chinese?
县 (xiàn) primarily means "county." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #877 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 县 have?
县 is written with 7 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 县?
The radical associated with 县 is 厶 (private). This radical appears in many characters related to private.
What are the components of 县?
县 is composed of: 且 (structural), 厶 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱且厶 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 县?
Common words with 县 include: 叶县 (yè xiàn, "Ye County or Yexian, a county in Pingdingshan City 平頂山市|平顶山市, Henan"); 县长 (xiàn zhǎng, "county's head commissioner"); 知县 (zhī xiàn, "county head magistrate (old)"); 林县 (lín xiàn, "Lin county in Henan"); 县城 (xiàn chéng, "county seat"). There are over 101 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 县 (xiàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xiàn: 现 (to appear), 先 (beforehand), 线 (line, thread), 显 (to make visible), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 县 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 县 and the traditional form is 縣.

Practice writing 县 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.