(yuán): circle, round, circular

(yuán) is a Chinese character meaning “circle.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1143 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, enclosure. Its radical form (enclosure) appears in many related characters such as (, four), (huí, to circle), (guó, country).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. circle
  2. round
  3. circular

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticenclosure

Decomposition: ⿴囗员 (layout: full-surround)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
adjectiveyuán mǎnsatisfactory6
verbtuán yuánto have a reunion6
nountāng yuánboiled or deep-fried balls of glutinous rice flour, usually eaten during Lantern Festival6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
fāng yuánperimeter
yuán xínground
yuán quāncircle
yuán huásmooth and evasive
yuán pándisk
yuán zhuōround table
yuán dǐngdome
tuǒ yuánoval
yuán zhū bǐballpoint pen
yuán diǎndot
yuán qiúball
yuán tǒngcircular cylinder
yuán zhùcolumn
tuǒ yuán xíngoval
yuán zhōu lǜ(math.) the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter (π)
100
Total compounds
59
As first character
25
As last character
16
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 59 as the first character, 25 as the last, and 16 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.

tuǒ
0.79721,882 co-occurrences
xíng
0.58572,306 co-occurrences
0.5686,359 co-occurrences
zhù
0.55414,286 co-occurrences
dǐng
0.52911,100 co-occurrences
chún
0.5293,834 co-occurrences
dùn
0.5081,032 co-occurrences
0.4952,430 co-occurrences
luǎn
0.4954,260 co-occurrences
chéng
0.4919,636 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (7)

bǎngdà-yāoyuánHSK 5+

tall and brawny

phrase
gōngdéyuánmǎnHSK 6+

to conclude successfully; to end satisfactorily

phrase
gǔn guā liū yuánHSK 7+

(of animals) round and fat

phrase
yuánzhuō huìyìHSK 5+

round table conference

noun
zhūyuányùrùnHSK 6+

round as pearls and smooth as jade; excellent singing; polished writing

phrase
zìzhèngqiāngyuánHSK 6+

pronouncing every word clearly and correctly

phrase
fāngruìyuánzuòHSK 7+

incompatible; square peg in a round hole

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

了解字的来源,有助于理解中国文化。

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

Understanding the origin of the character "圆" (yuan) helps to comprehend Chinese culture.

東森新聞Feb 2026

立法院迁址“新地点”! 韩国瑜抛“征收山饭店”

lì fǎ yuàn qiān zhǐ xīn dì diǎn ! hán guó 瑜 pāo zhēng shōu yuán shān fàn diàn

The Legislative Yuan moved to a "new location"! Han Kuo-yu threw "expropriation of the Yuanshan Hotel"

百度新闻Feb 2026

当年轻人成为过年“主理人”,让团找到新载体

dāng nián qīng rén chéng wéi guò nián zhǔ lǐ rén , ràng tuán yuán zhǎo dào xīn zài tǐ

When young people become the "managers" of the New Year, let the reunion find a new carrier

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春走基层|货运列车检车员:迟来的团,只为让更多..

xīn chūn zǒu jī céng huò yùn liè chē jiǎn chē yuán : chí lái de tuán yuán , zhī wéi ràng gēng duō . .

Freight train inspector: belated reunion, just to let more:

百度新闻Feb 2026

王心迪:在自己梦的同时,也帮助徐梦桃梦了

wáng xīn dí : zài zì jǐ yuán mèng de tóng shí , yě bāng zhù xú mèng táo yuán mèng le

Wang Xindi: While realizing his dream, he also helped Xu Mengtao realize his dream

百度新闻Feb 2026

...年味种在“商城之心”,在商博遇见另一种团

. . . nián wèi zhǒng zài shāng chéng zhī xīn , zài shāng bó yù jiàn lìng yī zhǒng tuán yuán

... The taste of the New Year is planted in the "heart of the mall", and another reunion is met at the business expo

Tatoeba

周能不能求得直径?

Yòng yuánzhōu néng bù néng qiúdé zhíjìng?

Is it possible to determine the diameter from the circumference?

Tatoeba

你能用珠笔写吗?

Nǐ néng yòng yuánzhūbǐ xiě ma?

Would you please write with a ballpoint pen?

Tatoeba

一块桌玻璃被打碎了。

Yīkuài yuánzhuō bōli bèi dǎsuì le.

The glass round table was smashed.

Tatoeba

他说新的谎话来以前说的谎话。

Tā shuō xīn de huǎnghuà lái yuán yǐqián shuō de huǎnghuà.

He tells a new lie to cover up those that came before.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced yuán

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 圆 (yuán) mean in Chinese?
圆 (yuán) primarily means "circle." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1143 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 圆 and 损?
圆 (yuán) and 损 (sǔn) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 囗 vs 扌 (same 员 component).
How many strokes does 圆 have?
圆 is written with 10 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 圆?
The radical associated with 圆 is 囗 (enclosure). This radical appears in many characters related to enclosure.
What are the components of 圆?
圆 is composed of: 囗 (semantic), 员 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿴囗员 with a full-surround layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 圆?
Common words with 圆 include: 圆满 (yuán mǎn, "satisfactory"); 方圆 (fāng yuán, "perimeter"); 圆形 (yuán xíng, "round"); 圆圈 (yuán quān, "circle"); 圆滑 (yuán huá, "smooth and evasive"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 圆 (yuán)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yuán: 元 (Yuan dynasty (1279–1368)), 员 (member, staff), 园 (land used for growing plants), 原 (former), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 圆 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 圆 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.