袁 (yuán): long robe (old)

袁 (yuán) is a Chinese character meaning “long robe (old).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 衣 (structural) and 口 (structural). It ranks #1739 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 袁 a person 口 wearing a robe 衣. Its radical form 衤 (clothing) appears in many related characters such as 衣 (yī, clothing), 表 (biǎo, exterior surface), 装 (zhuāng, dress, install).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: 衤 clothing8 strokesFrequency #1739衣 structural口 structural

Definitions

  1. long robe (old)

Etymology & Origin

袁

ideographicA person 口 wearing a robe 衣

Decomposition: ⿻衣口 (layout: overlay)

Components:衣structural口structural

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
反袁运动fǎn yuán yùn dònganti-Yuan movement, opposing Yuan Shikai 袁世凱|袁世凯[Yuan2 Shi4 kai3] in National Protection War 護國戰爭|护国战争[Hu4 guo2 Zhan4...
反袁斗争fǎn yuán dòu zhēngwar of 1915 against Yuan Shikai and for the Republic
袁于令yuán yú lìngYuan Yuling (-1674) Qing writer, author of 西樓記|西楼记[Xi1 lou2 Ji4]
袁州区yuán zhōu qūYuanzhou, a district of Yichun City 宜春市[Yi2 chun1 Shi4], Jiangxi
袁头yuán tóusilver coin from the early days of the Republic of China (1912-1949) bearing the head of Yuan Shikai 袁世凱|袁世凯[Yuan2 Sh...
袁世凯yuán shì kǎiYuan Shikai (1859-1916), senior general of late Qing, subsequently warlord and self-proclaimed emperor of China
反袁fǎn yuánopposing Yuan Shikai 袁世凱|袁世凯[Yuan2 Shi4 kai3] in National Protection War 護國戰爭|护国战争[Hu4 guo2 Zhan4 zheng1] 1915–1916
袁宏道yuán hóng dàoYuan Hongdao (1568-1610), Ming dynasty poet and travel writer
袁静yuán jìngYuan Jing (1911-1999), writer, dramatist and film critic
袁州yuán zhōusee 袁州區|袁州区[Yuan2 zhou1 Qu1]
袁绍yuán shàoYuan Shao (153-202), general during late Han, subsequently warlord
袁枚yuán méiYuan Mei (1716–1797), Qing poet, essayist and gastronome, one of the Three Great Masters of the Qianlong-Jiaqing peri...
袁桷yuán juéYuan Jue (1267-1327), Yuan dynasty writer and calligrapher
袁咏仪yuán yǒng yíAnita Yuen (1971-), Hong Kong actress
14
Total compounds
79
As first character
7
As last character
14
As middle character

袁 appears in 14 compound words: 79 as the first character, 7 as the last, and 14 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 袁 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

凯kǎi
0.57012,384 co-occurrences
焕huàn
0.5643,564 co-occurrences
绍shào
0.4784,806 co-occurrences
崇chóng
0.4415,190 co-occurrences
励lì
0.4211,542 co-occurrences
世shì
0.41121,894 co-occurrences
讨tǎo
0.4002,130 co-occurrences
氏shì
0.3876,240 co-occurrences
鹏péng
0.381648 co-occurrences
熙xī
0.3792,220 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

老师教我们袁字的发音和笔顺。

lǎo shī jiào wǒ men yuán zì de fā yīn hé bǐ shùn .

The teacher taught us the pronunciation and stroke order of the character "Yuan."

東方日報Apr 2026

东方日报C1:袁咏仪撑李心洁抢Fo 陈凯琳出场遭冷待

dōng fāng rì bào C 1 : yuán yǒng yí chēng lǐ xīn jié qiǎng F o chén kǎi lín chū chǎng zāo lěng dài

StheadlineMar 2026

黄宝妮袁幸尧将同晚上阵

huáng bǎo 妮 yuán xìng 尧 jiāng tóng wǎn shàng zhèn

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Mar 2026

袁斌:究竟有多少“对党怀有二心之人”?

yuán 斌 : jiū jìng yǒu duō shǎo duì dǎng huái yǒu èr xīn zhī rén ?

Yuan Bin: Just how many people are "disloyal to the Party"?

中時新聞網Mar 2026

袁世凯大总统不当 非要当皇帝 83天帝制梦...

yuán shì kǎi dà zǒng tǒng bù dāng fēi yāo dāng huáng dì 8 3 tiān dì zhì mèng . . .

Yuan Shikai wasn't satisfied with being President; he insisted on becoming emperor. His 83-day dream of an imperial system...

BastillepostMar 2026

港姐袁文静旗袍Look仙气大爆发 网民大赞人比...

gǎng jiě yuán wén jìng qí páo L o o k xiān qì dà bào fā wǎng mín dà zàn rén bǐ . . .

Miss Hong Kong Yuan Wenjing Stuns in a Qipao, Radiating an Ethereal Charm; Netizens Rave That She's More Beautiful Than...

Character Family

衤 Radical Family — Characters sharing the clothing radical

被bèi表biǎo补bǔ衬chèn初chū裤kù裙qún衫shān衣yī装zhuāng

Related Characters

衣yī表biǎo装zhuāng初chū补bǔ衫shān衬chèn被bèi裙qún裤kù

Homophones — Characters pronounced yuán

元yuán员yuán园yuán原yuán圆yuán源yuán远yuǎn怨yuàn院yuàn愿yuàn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 袁 (yuán) mean in Chinese?
袁 (yuán) primarily means "long robe (old)." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1739 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 袁 and 筑?
袁 (yuán) and 筑 (zhù) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 袁 (long) vs 筑 (short).
How many strokes does 袁 have?
袁 is written with 8 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 袁?
The radical associated with 袁 is 衤 (clothing). This radical appears in many characters related to clothing.
What are the components of 袁?
袁 is composed of: 衣 (structural), 口 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿻衣口 with a overlay layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 袁?
Common words with 袁 include: 反袁运动 (fǎn yuán yùn dòng, "anti-Yuan movement, opposing Yuan Shikai 袁世凱|袁世凯[Yuan2 Shi4 kai3] in National Protection War 護國戰爭|护国战争[Hu4 guo2 Zhan4..."); 反袁斗争 (fǎn yuán dòu zhēng, "war of 1915 against Yuan Shikai and for the Republic"); 袁于令 (yuán yú lìng, "Yuan Yuling (-1674) Qing writer, author of 西樓記|西楼记[Xi1 lou2 Ji4]"); 袁州区 (yuán zhōu qū, "Yuanzhou, a district of Yichun City 宜春市[Yi2 chun1 Shi4], Jiangxi"); 袁头 (yuán tóu, "silver coin from the early days of the Republic of China (1912-1949) bearing the head of Yuan Shikai 袁世凱|袁世凯[Yuan2 Sh..."). There are over 14 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 袁 (yuán)?
Several characters share the pronunciation yuán: 元 (Yuan dynasty (1279–1368)), 员 (member, staff), 园 (land used for growing plants), 原 (former), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 袁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 袁 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 袁 with real-time feedback

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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.