(xuàn): to dazzle, to boast, to show off

(xuàn) is a Chinese character meaning “to dazzle.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #2869 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, fire. Its radical form (fire) appears in many related characters such as (huǒ, fire), (dēng, lamp, light), (yān, smoke).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to dazzle
  2. to boast
  3. to show off

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticfire

Decomposition: ⿰火玄 (layout: left-right)

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
耀xuàn yàodazzling
xuàn mùto dazzle
xuàn jìto show off one's skills
xuàn fùto flaunt wealth
xuàn nòngto show off
kù xuàn(slang) cool
xuàn kù(slang) cool
7
Total compounds
86
As first character
14
As last character
0
As middle character

appears in 7 compound words: 86 as the first character, 14 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

耀yào
0.6016,723 co-occurrences
0.5011,650 co-occurrences
0.4561,224 co-occurrences
0.443582 co-occurrences
zhí
0.4191,908 co-occurrences
mào
0.412789 co-occurrences
bīn
0.384300 co-occurrences
cǎi
0.362750 co-occurrences
jīn
0.3613,528 co-occurrences
yūn
0.35142 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

蜡烛的苗在微风中轻轻摇曳。

là zhú de xuàn miáo zài wēi fēng zhōng qīng qīng yáo 曳 .

The flickering flame of the candle swayed gently in the breeze.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...盏20尺大型福马主灯飞上天 天灯节光雕秀

. . . zhǎn 2 0 chǐ dà xíng fú mǎ zhǔ dēng fēi shàng tiān tiān dēng jié guāng diāo xiù xuàn mù

... A 20-foot large Fuma main lamp flew into the sky The sky lantern festival light mapping show was dazzling

工商時報Feb 2026

...京烧鸟职人台北inari Izakaya技 百变鸡料理“炭”为观止

. . . jīng shāo niǎo zhí rén tái běi i n a r i I z a k a y a xuàn jì bǎi biàn jī liào lǐ tàn wéi guàn zhǐ

... Beijing yakitori chef Taipei inari Izakaya shows off his skills and the variety of chicken dishes "charcoal" is the end of the spectacle

LtnFeb 2026

《天机试炼场》粗俗发言开殉职案玩笑?全茂挨轰急灭火

tiān jī shì liàn chǎng cū sú fā yán kāi 殉 zhí àn wán xiào ? quán xuàn mào āi hōng jí miè huǒ

"Tianji Proving Ground" vulgar speech joke about the death of the duty? Quan Xuanmao was bombarded and quickly extinguished the fire

中時新聞網Feb 2026

...》从自卫权到制天权 中日低轨卫星叫阵(蔡)

. . . cóng zì wèi quán dào zhì tiān quán zhōng rì dī guǐ wèi xīng jiào zhèn ( 蔡 xuàn )

From the right of self-defense to the right to control the sky, China-Japan low-orbit satellites call the formation (Cai Xuan)

WorldjournalFeb 2026

中国公务员春节参加相亲 富有宾利、保时捷、房子很多

zhōng guó gōng wù yuán chūn jié cān jiā xiāng qīn xuàn fù yǒu bīn lì , bǎo shí jié , fáng zǐ hěn duō

Chinese civil servants participate in the blind date during the Spring Festival and show off their wealth Bentley, Porsche, and many houses

Tatoeba

雅尼耀他的新车。

Yǎ ní xuànyào tā de xīn chē.

Yanni was showing off his new car.

Tatoeba

不要太耀这个了。

Bù yào tài xuànyào zhège le.

Stop being so arrogant about this.

Tatoeba

西班牙队像往常一样耀他们一脚传球的球技。

Xībānyá duì xiàng wǎngcháng yīyàng xuànyào tāmen yī jiǎo chuánqiú de qiú jì.

As usual the Spanish team are showing off their skills at one-touch football.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced xuàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 炫 (xuàn) mean in Chinese?
炫 (xuàn) primarily means "to dazzle." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2869 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 炫 and 畜?
炫 (xuàn) and 畜 (chù) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 火 vs 田 (same 玄 component).
How many strokes does 炫 have?
炫 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 炫?
The radical associated with 炫 is 火 (fire). This radical appears in many characters related to fire.
What are the components of 炫?
炫 is composed of: 火 (semantic), 玄 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰火玄 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 炫?
Common words with 炫 include: 炫耀 (xuàn yào, "dazzling"); 炫目 (xuàn mù, "to dazzle"); 炫技 (xuàn jì, "to show off one's skills"); 炫富 (xuàn fù, "to flaunt wealth"); 炫弄 (xuàn nòng, "to show off"). There are over 7 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 炫 (xuàn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xuàn: 宣 (to declare (publicly)), 喧 (clamor), 玄 (black), 悬 (to hang or suspend), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 炫 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 炫 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.