悬 (xuán): to hang or suspend, to worry, public announcement
悬 (xuán) is a Chinese character meaning “to hang or suspend.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 县 (structural) and 心 (structural). It ranks #1859 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 悬 pride 心 in one's country 县, expressed by a flag; 县 also provides the pronunciation. Its radical form 忄 (heart) appears in many related characters such as 忙 (máng, busy), 快 (kuài, fast, happy), 怎 (zěn, how).
Definitions
- to hang or suspend
- to worry
- public announcement
Etymology & Origin
ideographicPride 心 in one's country 县, expressed by a flag; 县 also provides the pronunciation
Decomposition: ⿱县心 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 悬 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 悬崖 | xuán yá | precipice |
| 悬赏 | xuán shǎng | to offer a reward |
| 悬念 | xuán niàn | suspense in a movie, play etc |
| 悬案 | xuán àn | unresolved question |
| 悬挂 | xuán guà | to suspend |
| 悬浮 | xuán fú | to float (in the air etc) |
| 悬而未决 | xuán ér wèi jué | (idiom) pending a decision |
| 悬殊 | xuán shū | vastly different |
| 口若悬河 | kǒu ruò xuán hé | mouth like a torrent (idiom) |
| 悬停 | xuán tíng | to hover (helicopter, computer mouse etc) |
| 悬空 | xuán kōng | to hang in the air |
| 悬崖勒马 | xuán yá lè mǎ | lit. to rein in the horse at the edge of the precipice (idiom) |
| 悬雍垂 | xuán yōng chuí | uvula (biology) |
| 悬崖峭壁 | xuán yá qiào bì | (idiom) sheer cliffs and precipitous rock faces |
| 倒悬 | dào xuán | lit. to hang upside down |
悬 appears in 51 compound words: 67 as the first character, 8 as the last, and 25 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 悬 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (16)
lit. the crisis of being hanged upside down (idiom); fig. extremely critical situation; dire straits
lit. the pain of being hanged upside down (idiom); fig. extremely critical situation; dire straits
critical juncture; the brink of destruction; a danger which puts one in dire straits
lit. to rescue the people from hanging upside down (idiom, from Mencius); to save the people from dire straits
lit. the crisis of being hanged upside down (idiom); fig. extremely critical situation; dire straits
lit. the pain of being hanged upside down (idiom); fig. extremely critical situation; dire straits
critical juncture; the brink of destruction; a danger which puts one in dire straits
lit. to rescue the people from hanging upside down (idiom, from Mencius); to save the people from dire straits
Showing 12 of 16 idioms containing 悬.
Example Sentences
虽然失败了，但他悬不气馁，继续努力。
suī rán shī bài le , dàn tā xuán bù qì něi , jì xù nǔ lì .
Though he failed, he did not lose heart and continued to persevere.
1岁半幼童悬挂10楼窗外坠落 路人合力以大衣接住救命
1 suì bàn yòu tóng xuán guà 1 0 lóu chuāng wài zhuì luò lù rén gě lì yǐ dà yī jiē zhù jiù mìng
A one-and-a-half-year-old child hung from the window on the 10th floor and fell from the window, and passers-by worked together to catch him with a coat to save his life
悬赏1万元 济南长21米、高7米“巨型鳌鱼...
xuán shǎng 1 wàn yuán jì nán cháng 2 1 mǐ , gāo 7 mǐ jù xíng 鳌 yú . . .
A reward of 10,000 yuan Jinan is 21 meters long and 7 meters high.
...简单:比亚迪详解澳洲车型本地化调校细节,悬架更硬更偏欧规设定
. . . jiǎn dān : bǐ yà dí xiáng jiě ào zhōu chē xíng běn dì huà diào jiào xì jié , xuán jià gēng yìng gēng piān ōu guī shè dìng
... Simple: BYD explains the details of the localization of Australian models in detail, and the suspension is stiffer and more European
广东一公司发帖“悬赏60万寻狗”,公司负责人称“赏..
guǎng dōng yī gōng sī fā tiē xuán shǎng 6 0 wàn xún gǒu , gōng sī fù zé rén chèn shǎng . .
A company in Guangdong posted a "reward of 600,000 dogs", and the person in charge of the company said that "reward:
一家三口大年初一被困浙江大罗山悬崖,8岁女童体温持..
yī jiā sān kǒu dà nián chū yī bèi kùn zhè jiāng dà luó shān xuán yá , 8 suì nǚ tóng tǐ wēn chí . .
A family of three was trapped on the cliffs of Daluoshan Mountain in Zhejiang Province on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and the 8-year-old girl had a temperature:
他们一直爬到悬崖顶上。
Tāmen yīzhí pádào xuányá dǐng shàng.
They climbed to the top of a cliff.
我不喜欢让事情悬而未决。
Wǒ bù xǐhuan ràng shìqing xuán'érwèijué.
I don't like to leave things up in the air.
人们普遍认为悬挂式滑翔运动是危险的。
Rénmen pǔbiàn rènwéi xuánguàshìhuáxiáng yùndòng shì wēixiǎn de.
There is a tendency for people to think that hang gliding is dangerous.
他的画被悬挂在墙上。
Tā de huà bèi xuánguà zài qiáng shàng.
His pictures were hung on the wall.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is 悬 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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