馅 (xiàn): filling, stuffing (for dumplings, pies etc)

馅 (xiàn) is a Chinese character meaning “filling.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 饣 (structural) and 臽 (structural). It ranks #2964 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 馅 food 饣 stuffed in a hole 臽; 臽 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 饣 (eat) appears in many related characters such as 饭 (fàn, meal, rice), 饿 (è, hungry), 馆 (guǎn, restaurant, hall).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. filling
  2. stuffing (for dumplings, pies etc)

Etymology & Origin

馅

ideographicFood 饣 stuffed in a hole 臽; 臽 also provides the pronunciation

Decomposition: ⿰饣臽 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
馅饼nounxiàn bǐngmeat pie
露馅verblòu xiànto leak
肉馅nounròu xiànground meat
馅儿饼nounxiàn r bǐngerhua variant of 餡餅|馅饼
馅儿nounxiàn rerhua variant of 餡|馅
夹馅jiā xiànstuffed (of food)
天上不会掉馅饼tiān shàng bù huì diào xiàn bǐngthere is no such thing as a free lunch (idiom)
天上掉馅饼phrasetiān shàng diào xiàn bǐnga meat pie falls from the sky (idiom)
露馅儿verblòu xiàn rerhua variant of 露餡|露馅
乐颠了馅lè diān le xiànecstatic
内馅nounnèi xiàn(Tw) filling
果馅饼nounguǒ xiàn bǐngtart
馅料nounxiàn liàofilling
羊肉馅yáng ròu xiànminced mutton
素馅sù xiànvegetable filling
16
Total compounds
25
As first character
44
As last character
31
As middle character

馅 appears in 16 compound words: 25 as the first character, 44 as the last, and 31 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 馅 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

饼bǐng
0.621569 co-occurrences
饺jiǎo
0.54530 co-occurrences
荤hūn
0.51110 co-occurrences
甜tián
0.471124 co-occurrences
肉ròu
0.463341 co-occurrences
酥sū
0.45422 co-occurrences
裹guǒ
0.44944 co-occurrences
煎jiān
0.44126 co-occurrences
豆dòu
0.43694 co-occurrences
葱cōng
0.42614 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

馅欲不振可能是身体发出的警告信号。

xiàn yù bù zhèn kě néng shì shēn tī fā chū de jǐng gào xìn háo .

Loss of appetite may be a warning sign from your body.

新西兰中文先驱网Mar 2026

...!纽币贬值叠加全球短缺,新西兰国民美食肉馅派可能都要吃不起了......

. . . ! niǔ bì biǎn zhí dié jiā quán qiú duǎn quē , xīn xī lán guó mín měi shí ròu xiàn pài kě néng dōu yāo chī bù qǐ le . . . . . .

...! With the New Zealand dollar depreciating and global shortages piling on, New Zealanders may soon find themselves unable to afford their national dish, the meat pie......

EttodayMar 2026

...镜头! 阿伯假吃馒头、大婚戏她戴口罩全露馅

. . . jìng tóu ! ā bó jiǎ chī mán tóu , dà hūn xì tā dài kǒu zhào quán lù xiàn

...On camera! The old man pretends to eat a steamed bun, and she gives herself away while wearing a mask during the wedding scene

99 健康网Mar 2026

元宵节必吃十大食物中哪些易致敏?花生芝麻馅需警惕过敏源吗

yuán xiāo jié bì chī shí dà shí wù zhōng nǎ xiē yì zhì mǐn ? huā shēng zhī má xiàn xū jǐng tì guò mǐn yuán ma

Which of the top 10 must-eat foods for the Lantern Festival are likely to cause allergies? Should you be wary of allergens in peanut and sesame fillings?

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...侵占Apple Watch!住家遭定位露馅处罚金1万2千元

. . . qīn zhàn A p p l e W a t c h ! zhù jiā zāo dìng wèi lù xiàn chǔ fá jīn 1 wàn 2 qiān yuán

... Encroachment on Apple Watch! The home was fined 12,000 yuan for positioning

百度新闻Feb 2026

倒酱油、拌肉馅,看春晚机器人化身“新春大厨”

dǎo jiàng yóu , bàn ròu xiàn , kàn chūn wǎn jī qì rén huà shēn xīn chūn dà chú

Pour soy sauce, mix meat filling, and watch the Spring Festival Gala robot transform into a "New Year chef"

Tatoeba

这饺子是什么馅的啊?

Zhè jiǎozi shì shénme xiàn de a?

What is the filling in these dumplings?

Tatoeba

有人想要更多的馅饼吗?

Yǒurén xiǎngyào gèng duō de xiànbǐng ma?

Does anyone want some more pie?

Tatoeba

你要再来一块馅饼吗?

Nǐ yào zài lái yīkuài xiànbǐng ma?

Will you have another slice of pie?

Tatoeba

谁做的这个馅饼?

Shéi zuò de zhège xiànbǐng?

Who made this pie?

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced xiàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 馅 (xiàn) mean in Chinese?
馅 (xiàn) primarily means "filling." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2964 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 馅 have?
馅 is written with 11 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 馅?
The radical associated with 馅 is 饣 (eat). This radical appears in many characters related to eat.
What are the components of 馅?
馅 is composed of: 饣 (structural), 臽 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰饣臽 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 馅?
Common words with 馅 include: 馅饼 (xiàn bǐng, "meat pie"); 露馅 (lòu xiàn, "to leak"); 肉馅 (ròu xiàn, "ground meat"); 馅儿饼 (xiàn r bǐng, "erhua variant of 餡餅|馅饼"); 馅儿 (xiàn r, "erhua variant of 餡|馅"). There are over 16 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 馅 (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 馅 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 馅 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 馅 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.