转 (zhuǎn): to turn, to transfer

转 (zhuǎn) is a Chinese character meaning “to turn, to transfer.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 车 (semantic) and 专 (phonetic). It ranks #376 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 转 cart. Its radical form 车 (cart) appears in many related characters such as 车 (chē, vehicle), 轻 (qīng, light), 辆 (liàng, measure word for vehicles).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to turn, to transfer

Etymology & Origin

转

pictophoneticcart

Decomposition: ⿰车专 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 转

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
转移verbzhuǎn yíto shift6
旋转verbxuán zhuǎnto rotate6
转身verbzhuǎn shēn(of a person) to turn round6
转变verbzhuǎn biànto change5
好转verbhǎo zhuǎnto improve5
转换verbzhuǎn huànto change6
转告verbzhuǎn gàoto pass on5
转动verbzhuǎn dòngto turn sth around6
转机verbzhuǎn jī(to take) a turn for the better4
转交verbzhuǎn jiāoto pass on to sb6
转让verbzhuǎn ràngto transfer (ownership, rights etc)6
转发verbzhuǎn fāto transmit4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
转转zhuàn zhuanto go for a stroll
运转verbyùn zhuǎnto work
转向verbzhuǎn xiàngto change direction
转弯verbzhuǎn wānto turn
中转站nounzhōng zhuǎn zhàntransit hub
扭转verbniǔ zhuǎnto reverse
转悠verbzhuàn youto roll
转播verbzhuǎn bōrelay
团团转verbtuán tuán zhuànto go round and round
转达verbzhuǎn dáto pass on
转圈verbzhuàn quānto rotate
逆转verbnì zhuǎnto turn back
转化verbzhuǎn huàto change
转角nounzhuǎn jiǎobend in a street
转给zhuǎn gěito pass on to
109
Total compounds
67
As first character
30
As last character
3
As middle character

转 appears in 109 compound words: 67 as the first character, 30 as the last, and 3 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 转 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

换huàn
0.58318,870 co-occurrences
移yí
0.56632,308 co-occurrences
绕rào
0.5588,994 co-occurrences
辗niǎn
0.5433,292 co-occurrences
变biàn
0.51319,042 co-occurrences
诊zhěn
0.5036,348 co-occurrences
运yùn
0.47723,182 co-occurrences
向xiàng
0.47432,066 co-occurrences
扭niǔ
0.4742,728 co-occurrences
旋xuán
0.47114,256 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (20)

斗转星移dǒuzhuǎnxīngyíHSK 5+

time flies; time passes

phrase
峰回路转fēnghuílùzhuǎnHSK 6+

to see a turn for the better

phrase
急转直下jí zhuǎn zhí xiàHSK 4+

to develop rapidly after abrupt turn (idiom); dramatic change

phrase
见风转舵jiànfēngzhuǎnduòHSK 7+

to bend with the wind; to change one's position, attitude, behaviour, etc. depending on the situation

phrase
目不转睛mù bù zhuǎn jīngHSK 4+

to gaze into each other's eyes; to not take their eyes off of each other

phrase
扭转干坤niǔzhuǎnqiánkūn

to bring about radical change in a situation; to reverse a course of events

phrase
实况转播shí kuàng zhuǎn bōHSK 4+

to broadcast live from the scene; live relay

phrase
顺风转舵shùn fēng zhuǎn duòHSK 7+

to act according to whatever is the current outlook; pragmatic; unprincipled

phrase
眼不转睛yǎn bù zhuàn jīngHSK 4+

with fixed attention (idiom)

phrase
晕头转向yūntóuzhuànxiàngHSK 6+

to feel dizzy and disoriented

phrase
辗转反侧zhǎnzhuǎnfǎncèHSK 7+

to toss and turn in bed as one has something on one's mind

phrase
转败为胜zhuàn bài wéi shèngHSK 5+

to turn defeat into victory (idiom); snatching victory from the jaws of defeat

phrase

Showing 12 of 20 idioms containing 转.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请把这个文件转给相关部门处理。

Qǐng bǎ zhè gè wénjiàn zhuǎn gěi xiāngguān bùmén chǔlǐ.

Please transfer this document to the relevant department for handling.

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

...学制须备足师资教室 叶祥均:避免政策“U转”劳民伤财

. . . xué zhì xū bèi zú shī zī jiào shì xié xiáng jūn : bì miǎn zhèng cè U zhuǎn láo mín shāng cái

... The school system must be equipped with sufficient teacher classrooms Ye Xiangjun: Avoid the policy "U transfer" to waste the people and money

東方日報Feb 2026

东方日报C1:倪乐琳幸保财色 心郁改名转运

dōng fāng rì bào C 1 : 倪 lè 琳 xìng bǎo cái sè xīn yù gǎi míng zhuǎn yùn

Oriental Daily C1: Ni Lelin is lucky to protect her wealth and change her name to transfer

UnwireFeb 2026

...ing Games 成立 NGO 组织 转型长期倡议平台推动游戏保护立法

. . . i n g G a m e s chéng lì N G O zǔ zhī zhuǎn xíng cháng qī chàng yì píng tái tuī dòng yóu xì bǎo hù lì fǎ

... ing Games has formed the NGO Transformation Long-Term Initiative platform to push for game protection legislation

百度新闻Feb 2026

宜昌高新区23家企业满负荷运转

yí chāng gāo xīn ōu jiā qǐ yè mǎn fù hé yùn zhuǎn

23 Enterprises in Yichang High-Tech Zone Operate at Full Capacity

百度新闻Feb 2026

...冬季两项男子4X7.5公里接力:法国队逆转..

. . . dōng jì liǎng xiàng nán zǐ . gōng lǐ jiē lì fǎ guó duì nì zhuǎn . .

... Biathlon Men's 4X7.5km Relay: France reverses...

Tatoeba

电源转接器的包装盒在哪里?

Diànyuán zhuǎnjiē qì de bāozhuāng hé zài nǎlǐ?

Where's the box the power supply came in?

Tatoeba

我父亲逐渐好转了。

Wǒ fùqin zhújiàn hǎozhuǎn le.

My father is getting better by degrees.

Tatoeba

地球每二十四小时就会绕轴自转一周。

Dìqiú měi èrshí sì xiǎoshí jiù huì rào zhóu zìzhuàn yīzhōu.

The earth revolves on its axis once every 24 hours.

Tatoeba

请在那个拐角左转。

Qǐng zài nàge guǎijiǎo zuǒzhuǎn.

Turn left at the corner.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 车 (cart) component

Homophones — Characters pronounced zhuǎn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 转 (zhuǎn) mean in Chinese?
转 (zhuǎn) primarily means "to turn, to transfer." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #376 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 转 and 传?
转 (zhuǎn) and 传 (chuán) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 车 vs 亻 (same 专 component).
How many strokes does 转 have?
转 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 转?
The radical associated with 转 is 车 (cart). This radical appears in many characters related to cart.
What are the components of 转?
转 is composed of: 车 (semantic), 专 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰车专 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 转?
Common words with 转 include: 转移 (zhuǎn yí, "to shift"); 旋转 (xuán zhuǎn, "to rotate"); 转身 (zhuǎn shēn, "(of a person) to turn round"); 转变 (zhuǎn biàn, "to change"); 好转 (hǎo zhuǎn, "to improve"). There are over 109 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 转 (zhuǎn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation zhuǎn: 砖 (brick), 专 (for a particular person, occasion, purpose), 赚 (to earn), 撰 (to compose). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 转 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 转 and the traditional form is 轉.

Practice writing 转 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.