(xiàn): statute, constitution

(xiàn) is a Chinese character meaning “statute.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1475 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, roof. Its radical form (roof) appears in many related characters such as (, guest, customer), (jiā, home, family), (, it).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. statute
  2. constitution

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticroof

Decomposition: ⿱宀先 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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
xiàn fǎconstitution (of a country)
xiàn zhāngcharter
xiàn bīngmilitary police
xiàn bīng duìmilitary police corps
wéi xiànunconstitutional
xiàn zhìsystem of constitutional government
xiū xiànto amend the constitution
xiàn fǎ fǎ yuànConstitutional Court
xiàn fǎ jiān hù wěi yuán huìGuardian Council, body of 12 appointed clerics which governs Iran
xiàn zhèng zhǔ yìconstitutionalism
lián hé guó xiàn zhāngUnited Nations charter
wǔ quán xiàn fǎSun Yat-sen's Five-power constitution of Republic of China, then of Taiwan
hé xiàn xìngconstitutionality
jūn zhǔ lì xiàn zhìconstitutional monarchy
wéi fǎn xiàn fǎto violate the constitution
24
Total compounds
42
As first character
21
As last character
38
As middle character

appears in 24 compound words: 42 as the first character, 21 as the last, and 38 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.

0.569130,686 co-occurrences
wéi
0.5408,040 co-occurrences
chún
0.5195,946 co-occurrences
bīng
0.47323,250 co-occurrences
zhāng
0.47115,582 co-occurrences
zōng
0.44214,880 co-occurrences
xiū
0.42814,124 co-occurrences
duì
0.42115,342 co-occurrences
0.4061,230 co-occurrences
lěi
0.4043,108 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了解字的来源,有助于理解中国文化。

le xiè xiàn zì de lái yuán , yǒu zhù yú lǐ xiè zhōng guó wén huā .

Understanding the origin of the character "宪" helps to comprehend Chinese culture.

LtnFeb 2026

吴宗、高捷现身士林!“德州扑克协会”祭300...

wú zōng xiàn , gāo jié xiàn shēn shì lín ! dé zhōu pū kè xié huì jì 3 0 0 . . .

Wu Zongxian and Gao Jie appeared in Shilin!" Texas Hold'em Association "Festival 300...

News For ChineseFeb 2026

前优胜美地员工告联邦侵犯法权利

qián yōu shèng měi dì yuán gōng gào lián bāng qīn fàn xiàn fǎ quán lì

Former Yosemite employees sued the federal government for violating their constitutional rights

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

守护儿少性侵案幸存者 法法庭3月2日开说明会

shǒu hù ér shǎo xìng qīn àn xìng cún zhě xiàn fǎ fǎ tíng 3 yuè 2 rì kāi shuō míng huì

Protecting Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse The Constitutional Court held a briefing on March 2

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

儿少性侵追诉 民团发起连署吁释修法并行

ér shǎo xìng qīn zhuī sù mín tuán fā qǐ lián shǔ xū shì xiàn xiū fǎ bìng háng

Child sexual assault prosecution Civil groups launched a joint petition calling for the interpretation of the constitution and the amendment of the law

LtnFeb 2026

川普对等关税被裁定违 分析师:企业促退税需多年诉讼

chuān pǔ duì děng guān shuì bèi cái dìng wéi xiàn fēn xī shī : qǐ yè cù tuì shuì xū duō nián sù sòng

Trump's reciprocal tariffs were ruled unconstitutional Analyst: Companies need years of litigation to promote tax refunds

Tatoeba

平等是由法保障的。

Píngděng shì yóu xiànfǎ bǎozhàng de.

Equality is guaranteed by the Constitution.

Tatoeba

思想自由为法所保障。

Sīxiǎng zìyóu wéi xiànfǎ suǒ bǎozhàng.

Freedom of thought is guaranteed by the constitution.

Tatoeba

战争不是轻易就应该开始的,所以也不能够因为像打仗就改变法。

Zhànzhēng bù shì qīngyì jiù yīnggāi kāishǐ de, suǒyǐ yě bù nénggòu yīnwèi xiàng dǎzhàng jiù gǎibiàn xiànfǎ.

War isn't something to be done lightly, also changing the constitution isn't something that should be done because "I just really want to go to war".

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced xiàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 宪 (xiàn) mean in Chinese?
宪 (xiàn) primarily means "statute." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1475 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 宪 and 洗?
宪 (xiàn) and 洗 (xǐ) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 宀 vs 氵 (same 先 component).
How many strokes does 宪 have?
宪 is written with 9 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 宪?
The radical associated with 宪 is 宀 (roof). This radical appears in many characters related to roof.
What are the components of 宪?
宪 is composed of: 宀 (semantic), 先 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱宀先 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 宪?
Common words with 宪 include: 宪法 (xiàn fǎ, "constitution (of a country)"); 宪章 (xiàn zhāng, "charter"); 宪兵 (xiàn bīng, "military police"); 宪兵队 (xiàn bīng duì, "military police corps"); 违宪 (wéi xiàn, "unconstitutional"). There are over 24 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 宪 (xiàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xiàn: 先 (beforehand), 鲜 (fresh), 闲 (idle, free), 咸 (all), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 宪 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 宪 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

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.